The Elopidae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

containing a single living genus '' Elops''. They are commonly known as ladyfish, skipjacks, jack-rashes, or tenpounders. The ladyfish are a coastal-dwelling fish found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions, occasionally venturing into temperate waters.Adams, A. J., Horodysky, A. Z., McBride, R. S., Guindon, K., Shenker, J., MacDonald, T. C., Harwell, H. D., Ward, R., and Carpenter, K. Global conservation status and research needs for tarpons (Megalopidae), ladyfishes (Elopidae) and bonefishes (Albulidae). Fish and Fisheries (online, early view as of 2013). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.12017/abstract

Spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aqua ...

takes place at sea, and the

fish larva Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, , "fish"; and πλαγκτός, , "drifter") are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the ...

e migrate inland entering brackish waters. Their food is smaller fish and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s (

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

). Typically throughout the species, the maximum size is and the maximum weight . The body is fusiform (tapering spindle shape) and oval in cross-section; being slightly laterally compressed, and the eyes are large and partially covered with

adipose eyelid An adipose eyelid is a transparent eyelid found in some species of fish, that covers some or all of the eye. They are most commonly found on deep sea (benthic) fish, but can also be seen on non-benthic fish. Fish with this feature include milkfish ...

s. Like those of eels, the larvae are leptocephalic - being highly compressed, ribbon-like, and transparent. After initial growth, they shrink and then metamorphose into the adult form. This family is fished, but their bodies are bony, so these fish are not marketed widely for consumption. They are caught and used as bait or may be ground down for fish meal. The name comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''ellops'' - a kind of serpent.

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Elops affinis''

Regan The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri' ...

, 1909 (Pacific ladyfish) * †'' Elops bultyncki'' Nolf 2004 * '' Elops hawaiensis'' Regan, 1909 (Hawaiian ladyfish or giant herring) * '' Elops lacerta''

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, 1847 (West African ladyfish or Guinean ladyfish) * '' Elops machnata'' ( Forsskål, 1775) (tenpounder) * †'' Elops miiformis'' Lin et al. 2016 * '' Elops saurus''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, t ...

, 1766 (ladyfish) * ''

Elops senegalensis The Senegalese ladyfish (''Elops senegalensis'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Elopidae, and it's native to the coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french ...

'' Regan, 1909 (Senegalese ladyfish) * ''

Elops smithi The malacho or Southern ladyfish, (''Elops smithi'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus ''Elops'', the only genus in the monotypic family Elopidae. Description ''Elops smithi'' like other species in its genus, has a long, slender, r ...

'' McBride, Rocha, Ruiz-Carus & Bowen, 2010 (malacho)McBride, Richard S., Rocha, Claudia R., Ruiz-Carus, Ramon, Bowen, Brian W. 2012. A new species of ladyfish, of the genus '' Elops'' (Elopiformes: Elopidae), from the western Atlantic Ocean. Zootaxa. 2346: 29-41. DOI: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02346p041.pdf

References

Pantropical fish Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Extant Early Cretaceous first appearances Ray-finned fish families {{Elopiformes-stub

Species

See also

References