Argentiniformes

Argentiniformes
Temporal range: Barremian–present
Argentina sphyraena
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Superorder: Osmeromorpha
Order: Argentiniformes
Type species
Argentina sphyraena
Linnaeus, 1758
Families
Synonyms
  • Argentinoidei
  • Argentinoidea
  • Opisthoproctoidea

The Argentiniformes /ɑːrdʒənˈtɪnɪfɔːrmiːz/ is an order of marine ray-finned fish whose distinctness was recognized only fairly recently. In former times, they were included in the Osmeriformes (typical smelt and allies) as suborder Argentinoidei. That term refers only to the suborder of marine smelts and barreleyes in the classification used here, with the slickheads and allies being the Alepocephaloidei. These suborders were treated as superfamilies Argentinoidea and Alepocephaloidea, respectively, when the present group was still included in the Osmeriformes.

They contain six or seven families with almost 60 genera and at least 228 species. A common name for the group is marine smelts and allies, but this is rather misleading since the "freshwater" smelts of the Osmeridae also live predominantly in the ocean.[1][2][3]

The earliest fossil argentiniform remains are otoliths of indeterminate argentinids from the Barremian Kimigahama Formation of Japan.[4] Later otoliths are known of other indeterminate taxa and Argentina itself from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of the United States and Germany.[5][6][7] A fossil family that might belong in this order are the Pattersonellidae, but more recent studies have found them to be basal euteleosts.[2][5]

  1. ^ FishBase (2006): Order Osmeriformes. Version of 2006-OCT-09. Retrieved 2009-SEP-28. pp. 190-194
  2. ^ a b Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
  3. ^ Diogo, Rui (2008). "On the cephalic and pectoral girdle muscles of the deep sea fish Alepocephalus rostratus, with comments on the functional morphology and phylogenetic relationships of the Alepocephaloidei (Teleostei)". Animal Biology. 58: 23–40. doi:10.1163/157075608X303636.
  4. ^ Miyata, Shinya; Isaji, Shinji; Kashiwagi, Kenji; Asai, Hidehiko (2024-04-04). "The first record of Lower Cretaceous otoliths from the Kimigahama Formation (Barremian) of the Choshi Group, Chiba Prefecture, Japan". Palaeontologia Electronica. 27 (1): 1–23. doi:10.26879/1318. ISSN 1094-8074.
  5. ^ a b Near, Thomas J; Thacker, Christine E (18 April 2024). "Phylogenetic classification of living and fossil ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
  6. ^ Stringer, Gary; Schwarzhans, Werner (2021-09-01). "Upper Cretaceous teleostean otoliths from the Severn Formation (Maastrichtian) of Maryland, USA, with an unusual occurrence of Siluriformes and Beryciformes and the oldest Atlantic coast Gadiformes". Cretaceous Research. 125: 104867. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104867. ISSN 0195-6671.
  7. ^ Schwarzhans, Werner W.; Jagt, John W. M. (2021-11-01). "Silicified otoliths from the Maastrichtian type area (Netherlands, Belgium) document early gadiform and perciform fishes during the Late Cretaceous, prior to the K/Pg boundary extinction event". Cretaceous Research. 127: 104921. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104921. ISSN 0195-6671.