Leiognathidae, the ponyfishes, slipmouths or slimys / slimies, are a small family of fishes in the order Perciformes. They inhabit marine and brackish waters in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. They can be used in the preparation of ''

bagoong ''Bagoóng'' (; ) is a Philippine condiment partially or completely made of either fermented fish (''bagoóng'') or krill or shrimp paste (''alamáng'') with salt. The fermentation process also produces fish sauce known as ''patís''. The pre ...

''.

Characteristics

Ponyfishes are small and laterally compressed in shape, with a bland, silvery colouration. They are distinguished by highly extensible mouths, and the presence of a mechanism for locking the spines in the dorsal and

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s. They also possess a highly integrated light organ in their throats that houses symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria that project light through the animal's underside. Typically, the harbored bacterium is only ''Photobacterium leiognathi'', but in the two ponyfish species ''Photopectoralis panayensis'' and ''Photopectoralis bindus'', ''Photobacterium mandapamensis'' is also present. Two of the most widely studied uses for luminescence in ponyfish are camouflage by ventral counterillumination and species-specific sexual dimorphism. Although ponyfish seem quite ordinary and morphologically similar, their light organ systems are highly variable across species and often between sexes.

Taxonomy

Leiognathidae is classified within the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Percoideiby the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'', but they are placed in an unnamed

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

which sits outside the

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Percoidea. This clade contains 7 families which appear to have some relationship to

Acanthuroidei Acanthuroidei , is a clade of ray finned fishes which is a suborder of the Acanthuriformes, although it is regarded as a suborder of the Perciformes, the largest order of fish. The suborder includes the surgeonfish and Moorish idol. Members o ...

Monodactylidae Monodactylidae is a family of perciform bony fish commonly referred to as monos, moonyfishes or fingerfishes. All are strongly laterally compressed with disc-shaped bodies and tall anal and dorsal fins. Unusually for fish, scales occur on their ...

, and Priacanthidae. Other authorities have paced the family in the order Chaetodontiformes alongside the family Chaetodontidae.

Timeline of genera

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-65.5 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-65.5 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-65.5 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop 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. bar:eratop 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. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:eocene bar:NAM1 from: -55.8 till: 0 text: Gazza color:oligocene bar:NAM2 from: -33.9 till: 0 text:

Leiognathus ''Leiognathus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, ponyfishes from the family Leiognathidae. They are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. They are sometimes known as silverbellies. Species There are currently 7 recogni ...

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:

from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:

from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:

from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:

from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:era from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q.

Genera

The following genera are classified within the Leiognathidae: * ''

Aurigequula The striped ponyfish (''Aurigequula fasciata'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a ponyfish from the family Leiognathidae. It is native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, from the Red Sea and the eastern coast of Africa to ...

'' Fowler, 1918 * ''

Equulites ''Equulites'' is a genus of ponyfishes native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA published in 2017 has suggested that ''Equulites elongates'' is in fact a species group made up of three species ''Equ ...

'' Fowler, 1904 * '' Eubleekeria'' Fowler, 1904 * '' Gazza'' Rüppell, 1835 * ''

Karalla ''Karalla'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, ponyfishes from the family Leiognathidae which are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * '' Karalla daura ...

'' Chakrabarty &

Sparks Sparks may refer to: Places *Sparks, Georgia * Sparks, Kansas *Sparks, Kentucky *Sparks, Maryland * Sparks, Nebraska *Sparks, Nevada *Sparks, Oklahoma *Sparks, Texas * Sparks, Bell County, Texas * Sparks, West Virginia Books * ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...

, 2008 * ''

'' Lacepède, 1802 * '' Nuchequula'' Whitley, 1932 * '' Photolateralis'' Sparks & Chakrabarty, 2015 * '' Photopectoralis'' Sparks, Dunlap & Smith, 2005 * ''

Secutor A secutor (''pl.'' secutores) was a class of gladiator in ancient Rome. Thought to have originated around 50 AD, the secutor ("follower" or "chaser", from ''sequor'' "I follow, come or go after") was armed similarly to the Murmillo gladiator a ...

Gistel Gistel () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. Following local government boundary reforms in 1971 and 1977, the municipality has comprised not only Gistel, but also the towns of Moere, Snaaskerke and Ze ...

, 1848

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q634284 Percoidei Bioluminescent fish Ray-finned fish families Extant Eocene first appearances