The mullets or grey mullets are a family (Mugilidae) of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and some species in fresh water. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since Roman times. The family includes about 78 species in 20 genera. Mullets are distinguished by the presence of two separate dorsal fins, small triangular mouths, and the absence of a

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

organ. They feed on

detritus In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...

, and most species have unusually muscular stomachs and a complex pharynx to help in digestion.

Classification and naming

Taxonomically In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

, the family is currently treated as the sole member of the order Mugiliformes, but as Nelson says, "there has been much disagreement concerning the relationships" of this family. The presence of fin spines clearly indicates membership in the superorder Acanthopterygii, and in the 1960s, they were classed as primitive perciforms, while others have grouped them in Atheriniformes. They are classified as an order, Mugiliformes, within the subseries Ovalentaria of the

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, ...

Percomorpha in 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 ...

''. In North America, "mullet" by itself usually refers to Mugilidae. In Europe, the word "mullet" is usually qualified, the "grey mullets" being Mugilidae and the "red mullets" or "surmullets" being Mullidae, notably members of the genus ''

Mullus ''Mullus'' is a subtropical marine genus of perciform fish of the family Mullidae (goatfish) and includes the red mullets, occurring mainly in the southwest Atlantic near the South American coast and in the Eastern Atlantic including the Mediterr ...

''. Outside Europe, the Mullidae are often called "goatfish". Fish with common names including the word "mullet" may be a member of one family or the other, or even unrelated such as the freshwater white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii''). However, recent taxonomic work has reorganised the family and the following genera make up the Mugilidae: * ''

Agonostomus ''Agonostomus'' is a genus of fish in the family Mugilidae, the mullets. These are considered to be the most primitive of the mullets. They are generally marine fish, though they spend much of their adult lives in freshwater. The two members of ...

Bennett Bennett may refer to: People *Bennett (name), including a list of people with the surname and given name Places Canada * Bennett, Alberta *Bennett, British Columbia * Bennett Lake, in the British Columbia and Yukon Territory **Bennett Range **Benn ...

, 1832 * '' Aldrichetta'' Whitley, 1945 * '' Cestraeus'' Valenciennes, 1836 * ''

Chaenomugil ''Chaenomugil proboscideus'', the snouted mullet, is a species mullet found along the western coast of North America from Mexico to Panama. It is found in rocky, areas near the coast where it feeds on algae growing on rocks which it scrapes off ...

'' Gill, 1863 * '' Chelon'' Artedi, 1763 * ''

Crenimugil ''Crenimugil'' is a genus of mullets found in coastal marine waters and rivers in the Indo-Pacific region. Species Four species are currently recognised as comprising the genus ''Crenimugil'': * '' Crenimugil buchanani'' (Bleeker, 1853) (Bluet ...

Schultz Schultz is a Germans, German surname derived from ''Schultheiß'', meaning village headman or constable/sheriff in the medieval sense (akin to today's office of mayor). It has many variations, such as Schuldt, Schulte, Schulten, Schultes, Schultheis ...

, 1946 * ''

Dajaus The mountain mullet (''Dajaus monticola'') is a freshwater fish of the family Mugilidae.Ellochelon The squaretail mullet (''Ellochelon vaigiensis''), also known as the diamondscale mullet, is a species of grey mullet from the family Mugilidae. It is an Indo-Pacific species and is the only species in the monospecific genus ''Ellochelon''. Desc ...

'' Whitley, 1930 * '' Gracilimugil'' Whitley, 1941 * ''

Joturus The bobo mullet (''Joturus pichardi''), is a species of ray-finned fish of the mullet family Mugilidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Joturus'', one of 17 mullet genera containing altogether about 80 species of ray-finned fish. It occu ...

'' Poey, 1860 * ''

Minimugil The yellowtail mullet (''Minimugil cascasia'') is a species of potamodromous ray-finned fish, a mullet belonging to the family Mugilidae. It is the only species in the genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological cla ...

'' Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa, 2012 * '' Mugil'' Linnaeus, 1758 * '' Myxus'' Günther, 1861 * '' Neomyxus''

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner describ ...

, 1878 * '' Neochelon'' Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012 * ''

Oedalechilus The boxlip mullet (''Oedalechilus labeo'') is a species of fish in the mullet family which is found in the eastern Atlantic from Gibraltar to Morocco, it is found in the Mediterranean Sea but not the Black Sea. It is the only species in the mono ...

'' Fowler 1903 * ''

Osteomugil ''Osteomugil'' is a genus of mugilid mullets found in coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific, including estuaries and rivers. They were formerly included in ''Moolgarda'' and ''Valamugil''.Durand, J.-D., W.-J. Chen, K.-N. Shen, C. Fu, & P. Borsa. 20 ...

'' G. Luther, 1982 * '' Parachelon'' Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012 * ''

Paramugil ''Paramugil'' is a genus of mugilid mullets found in coastal waters, estuaries and rivers in the western Pacific region, ranging from the South China Sea to Australia. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * '' Param ...

'' Ghasemzadeh, Ivantsoff & Aarn 2004 * '' Planiliza'' Whitley, 1945 * ''

Plicomugil The hornlip mullet (''Plicomugil labiosus'') is a species of fish in the mullet family from the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Micronesia. It is the only species in the monospecific genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in ...

'' Schultz, 1953 * '' Pseudomyxus'' Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012 * ''

Rhinomugil The corsula (''Rhinomugil corsula'') is a species of ray-finned fish from the grey mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in the rivers and estuaries of southern Asia, in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. It is presently regarded as the only sp ...

'' Gill, 1863 * ''

Sicamugil The Burmese mullet (''Sicamugil hamiltonii'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a mullet belonging to the family Mugilidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Sicamugil''. It is found in the drainage systems of the Sittang The Sit ...

'' Fowler, 1939 * ''

Squalomugil The shark mullet (''Squalomugil nasutus''), also known as the sharp-nosed mullet, popeye mullet, or skipjack mullet, is a species of ray-finned fish from the grey mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in Australia and New Guinea where it occurs in ...

'' Ogilby, 1908 * ''

Trachystoma The pinkeye mullet (''Trachystoma petardi''), also known simply as pinkeye, or freshwater mullet, Richmond mullet, or river mullet, is a species of ray-finned fish from the grey mullet family Mugilidae and the only species in the genus ''Trachyst ...

'' Ogilby, 1888

Behaviour

A common noticeable behaviour in mullet is the tendency to leap out of the water. There are two distinguishable types of leaps: a straight, clean slice out of the water to escape predators and a slower, lower jump while turning to its side that results in a larger, more distinguishable, splash. The reasons for this lower jump are disputed, but have been hypothesised to be in order to gain oxygen rich air for gas exchange in a small organ above the pharynx.

Development

The ontogeny of mugilid larvae has been well studied, with the larval development of ''

Mugil cephalus The flathead grey mullet (''Mugil cephalus'') is an important food fish species in the mullet family Mugilidae. It is found in coastal tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. Its length is typically . It is known with numerous English names, ...

'' in particular being studied intensively due to its wide range of distribution and interest to

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. The previously understudied osteological development of ''Mugil cephalus'' was investigated in a 2021 study, with four embryonic and six larval developmental steps being described in aquaculture-reared and wild-caught specimens. These descriptions provided clarification of questionable characters of adult mullets and revealed informative details with potential implications for phylogenetic hypotheses, as well as providing an overdue basis of comparison for aquaculture-reared mullets to enable recognition of malformations.

Timeline

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 from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text: 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 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:oligocene bar:NAM1 from: -33.9 till: 0 text: Mugil color:miocene bar:NAM2 from: -23.03 till: 0 text:

Liza Liza may refer to * Liza (name), including a list of people named Liza * ''Liza'' (fish), a genus of mullets * ''Liza'' (1972 film), a 1972 Italian film * ''Liza'' (1978 film), a 1978 Malayalam horror film * Hurricane Liza (disambiguation), the ...

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text: Paleocene from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text: Eocene from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:

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

References

Further references

* J.S. Nelson, ''

''. . * * *

External links

* Video
Mullet Dursey Sound May 2010, Beara, West Cork, Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullet (Fish) Mugiliformes Ovalentaria