The Lethrinidae are a family of fishes in the order Perciformes commonly known as emperors, emperor breams, and pigface breams. These fish are found in tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and ''Lethrinus atlanticus'' is also found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. They are

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

feeders, consuming

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s and small fishes. Some species have molariform teeth which they use to eat shelled invertebrates, such as

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

and

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

Gallery

File:Lethrinus olivaceus.jpg, Longface emperor (''

Lethrinus olivaceus ''Lethrinus olivaceus'', common name longface emperor or long-nosed emperor, is a species of bony fishes belonging to the family Lethrinidae. Description ''Lethrinus olivaceus'' can reach a length of about . This large lethrinid has a very lon ...

'') File:Gnathodentex aureolineatus.jpg, Striped large-eye bream ('' Gnathodentex aureolineatus'') File:Monotaxis-grandoculis.JPG, Humpnose big-eye bream ('' Monotaxis grandoculis'')

References

*Carpenter, K. E. and G. R. Allen (Hrsg.): ''Emperor fishes and large-eye breams of the world (Family Lethrinidae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of lethrinid species known to date.'' FAO Species Catalogue Vol. 9, Rom 1989.
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External links

Ichthyological Bulletin; No. 17: Fishes of the family Lethrinidae from the Western Indian Ocean
{{Taxonbar, from=Q31402 Fish of Hawaii Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte