Crestfish
| Crestfishes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| North Pacific crestfish Lophotus capellei | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Lampriformes |
| Family: | Lophotidae |
| Genera | |
Crestfishes, family Lophotidae, are lampriform fishes found in most oceans.[3] It consists of two extant[3][1] and one or two extinct genera.[1][2]
They are elongated, ribbon-like fishes, silver in color, found in deep tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Their scientific name is from Greek lophos meaning "crest" and refer to the crest (part of the dorsal fin) that emerges from the snout and head; this structure gives them their other name of unicorn fishes.
The extant genera all possess ink sacs that open into their cloacae from which they can produce a cloud of black ink when threatened (as in many cephalopods).[4]
References
- 1 2 3 Nelson, J. S. (2006). Fishes of the World (4 ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
- 1 2 Bannikov, A. F. (1999). "A review of fossil Lampridiformes (Teleostei) finds with a description of a new Lophotidae genus and species from the Oligocene of the northern Caucasus". Paleontological Journal. 33: 68–76.
- 1 2 Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2014). "Lophotidae" in FishBase. November 2014 version.
- ↑ Honma, Yoshiharu; Ushiki, Tatsuo; Takeda, Masaei (Feb 1999). "Histology of the ink tube and its associated organs in a unicornfish, Eumecichthys fiskii (Lampridiformes)". Ichthyological Research. 46 (1): 19–25. doi:10.1007/BF02674944.
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