Stiassnyiformes is an
order of bony fish (
Teleostei
Teleostei (; Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts ), is, by far, the largest infraclass in the class Actinopterygii, the ray-finned fishes, containing 96% of all extant species of fish. Te ...
) proposed in 2009.
[Blaise Li, Agnès Dettaï, Corinne Cruaud, Arnaud Couloux, Martine Desoutter-Meniger, Guillaume Lecointre: ''RNF213, a new nuclear marker for acanthomorph phylogeny.'' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 50, Issue 2, February 2009, Pages 345-363 ] It includes the
mullets (Mugilidae), the
Atheriniformes
The Atheriniformes, also known as the silversides, are an order of ray-finned fishes that includes the Old World silversides and several less-familiar families, including the unusual Phallostethidae. The order includes at least 354 species. T ...
, the
Beloniformes
Beloniformes is an order composed of six families (and about 264 species) of freshwater and marine ray-finned fish:
* Adrianichthyidae (ricefish and medakas)
* Belonidae (needlefish)
* Exocoetidae (flyingfishes)
* Hemiramphidae (halfbeaks) ...
, the
Cyprinodontiformes
Cyprinodontiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising mostly small, freshwater fish. Many popular aquarium fish, such as killifish and live-bearers, are included. They are closely related to the Atheriniformes and are occasionally inc ...
and some families of the
paraphyletic 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 ...
, including the
cichlids
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 th ...
. The new taxon was named by the authors of the first description in honor of the curator of the Department of Ichthyology at the
American Museum of Natural History Melanie Stiassny
Melanie Lisa Jane Stiassny (born 17 January 1953 in Bielefeld, Germany) is the Axelrod Research Curator of Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History. Her research interests focus on freshwater biodiversity documentation and systema ...
, which suggested in 1993 that the mullet are allied with
damselfish
Damselfish are those within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastenae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, with the largest species being about ...
and
guppies
The guppy (), also known as millionfish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most widely distributed tropical fish and one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. It is a member of the family Poeciliidae and, like almost all ...
.
[Melanie L. J. Stiassny: ''What are Grey Mullets?'' Bulletin of Marine Science, Volume 52, Number 1, January 1993, pp. 197-219(23]
Abstract
/ref>
The close relationship of these outwardly different groups is based on molecular studies and is not supported by morphological characteristics.
The 5th edition of '' Fishes of the World'' classifies the families which make up the Stiassnyiformes within the subseries Ovalentaria
Ovalentaria is a clade of ray-finned fishes within the Percomorpha, referred to as a subseries. It is made up of a group of fish families which are referred to in ''Fishes of the World's'' fifth edition as'' incertae sedis'', as well as the orde ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q60582552
Teleostei
Ray-finned fish orders
Ovalentaria