The mojarras are a family, Gerreidae, of fish in the order
Perciformes
Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...
. The family includes about 53 species found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions. They mostly inhabit coastal salt and
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
waters, although some occur in fresh water.
Mojarras are a common prey and
bait fish
300px, Feeder Goldfish are common baitfish.
Bait fish (or baitfish) are small-sized fish caught and used by anglers as bait to attract larger predatory fish, particularly game fish. Baitfish species are typically those that are common and bree ...
in many parts of the world, including the South American coast and
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
islands as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast of North America. These species tend to be difficult to identify in the field and often require microscopic examination. Most species exhibit a schooling behavior and tend to exploit the shallow water
refugia associated with coastal areas presumably to avoid large-bodied
predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s, such as the
lemon shark
The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae and is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Lemon sharks can grow to in length. They are o ...
.
Mojarra is also commonly used in Latin American countries as a name for various species of the
cichlid
Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...
family, including
tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
.
Genera
The seven genera currently assigned to this family are:
[
* †'' Aspesiperca'' Bannikov 2008 (only known from fossil remains)
* †'' Gerreidarum'' (only known from fossilized ]otolith
An otolith ( grc-gre, ὠτο-, ' ear + , ', a stone), also called statoconium or otoconium or statolith, is a calcium carbonate structure in the saccule or utricle of the inner ear, specifically in the vestibular system of vertebrates. The sa ...
remains)
* ''Deckertichthys
The golden mojarra (''Deckertichthys aureolus'') is a species of mojarra native to the eastern Pacific Ocean, where it is found from Costa Rica to the northern coast of Peru. This species grows to a length of . This species is important to loc ...
'' Vergara-Solana, 2014[Vergara-Solana, F.J., García-Rodriguez, F.J., Tavera, J.J., De Luna, E. & De La Cruz-Agüero, J. (2014): Molecular and morphometric systematics of ''Diapterus'' (Perciformes, Gerreidae). ''Zoologica Scripta, 43 (4): 338–350.'']
* ''Diapterus
''Diapterus'' is a genus of fish in the family Gerreidae, the mojarras. They are native to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas.
Species
The currently recognized species in this genus are:Vergara-Solana, F.J., García-Rodriguez, F.J., ...
'' Ranzani
Camillo Ranzani (22 June 1775 – 23 April 1841, Bologna ) was an Italian Priesthood (Catholic Church), priest and a naturalist. He was director of the Museum of Natural History of Bologna from 1803 to 1841 (now the Museum of Comparative Anatomy, ...
, 1842
* ''Eucinostomus
''Eucinostomus'' is a genus of fish in the family Gerreidae. They are native to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas.
Species
There are currently 10 recognized species in this genus:
* ''Eucinostomus argenteus'' S. F. Baird & Girard ...
'' Baird & Girard, 1855
* ''Eugerres
''Eugerres'' is a genus of fish in the family Gerreidae, the mojarras. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann in 1927. They are native to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas, occurring mainly in salt an ...
'' Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
& Evermann, 1927
* ''Gerres
''Gerres'' is a genus of mojarras found mostly in coastal regions from the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. A single species, ''G. simillimus'', is from the East Pacific. They mainly inhabit salt and brackis ...
'' Quoy & Gaimard
Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist.
Biography
Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subsequent ...
, 1824
* ''Parequula
''Parequula melbournensis'', the silverbelly, Melbourne silver biddy or silver biddy, is a species of fish in the family Garreidae, the mojarras. The species was first described by Francis de Laporte de Castelnau in 1872. It is the only member ...
'' Steindachner, 1879
* ''Pentaprion
The longfin mojarra (''Pentaprion longimanus'') is a species of mojarra native to the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean from India to the western Pacific. This species grows to in total length, though most do not exceed . This species is of m ...
'' Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Ulaema
The mottled mojarra (''Ulaema lefroyi'') is a species of mojarra native to the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the Americas from North Carolina to Brazil, where adults can be found off sandy shorelines. This species grows to total length, ...
'' Jordan & Evermann 1895
Timeline
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from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio.
from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist.
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H.
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from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.
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color:eocene bar:NAM1 from: -55.8 till: 0 text: Gerres
''Gerres'' is a genus of mojarras found mostly in coastal regions from the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. A single species, ''G. simillimus'', is from the East Pacific. They mainly inhabit salt and brackis ...
color:eocene bar:NAM2 from: -55.8 till: 0 text: Pentaprion
The longfin mojarra (''Pentaprion longimanus'') is a species of mojarra native to the coastal waters of the Indian Ocean from India to the western Pacific. This species grows to in total length, though most do not exceed . This species is of m ...
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The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...
from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio.
from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist.
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H.
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from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...
from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.
See also
* Silver biddy
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1140406
Gerreidae