Congiopodidae, commonly known as pigfishes, horsefishes and racehorses, is a family of

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 ...

classified with in the order

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species, with over 1,320. They are ...

. These fishes are native to the Southern Hemisphere.

Taxonomy

Congiopodidae was first formally recognised as a family by the American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural histo ...

in 1889. The 5th edition of '' Fishes of the World'' classifies the family within the suborder

Scorpaenoidei Scorpaenoidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes, part of the order Scorpaeniformes, that includes the scorpionfishes, lionfishes and velvetfishes. This suborder is at its most diverse in the Pacific and Indian Oceans but is also found in the A ...

which in turn is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities place the Scorpaenoidei within the

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

monophyly In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

of the Congiopodidae as set out in ''Fishes of the World'' is not universally agreed upon. Some authorities classify the genus ''Perryena'' in its own subfamily, Perryeninae, in the stonefish family Synanceiidae. The genera ''Alertichthys'' and ''Zanclorhynchus'' are classified within the family Zanclorhynchidae leaving ''Congiopodus'' as the only genus in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

Congiopodidae. The name of the family is based on that of the genus ''Congiopodus'', the derivation of which was not explained by its author, the English naturalist George Perry, but may be a combination of 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 ...

''gongulos'', meaning "round", and ''podus'', which means "foot", maybe referring to the roundish pelvic fins of the type species ''C. percatus'' (now ''C. torvus'').

Genera

Congiopodidae contains the following 4 genera: * '' Alertichthys'' Moreland, 1960 * '' Congiopodus''

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

, 1811 * '' Perryena'' Whitley, 1940 * '' Zanclorhynchus'' Günther, 1880

Characteristics

Congiopididae is characterised by having no scales on the body and head, although the skin may have a grainy texture. There is one nostril on each side of the relatively long snout with a small mouth. The bill slit is rather small and is located above the base of the pectoral fin and the lateral line is typically well developed. The dorsal fin is continuous, except in ''Zanclorhynchus'', and has between 8 and 21 spines and 8 and 14 soft rays. The anal fin contains between 0 and 3 spines and 5 to 10soft rays. The maximum length is .

Distribution and habitat

Congiopids are found in the Southern Hemisphere where theylive on the bottom of shallow temperate and sub-Antarctic seas, at depths of up to .

Biology

One Congiopodid, ''Congiopodus peruvianus'', is found in the shallow South American waters. In this species the adult's dorsal fin is relatively shorter than the juvenile's fin, but they all resemble yellow and orange dead tree leaves.

References