Order Summary for Elopiformes
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Main Ref |
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Order |
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Elopiformes tarpons and tenpounders |
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Class |
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Actinopterygii |
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Sister Order |
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Albuliformes 140 M years |
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Ref.. |
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First Fossil Record |
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early Cretaceous |
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Occurs in |
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Marine |
Fresh |
Brackish |
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Remark |
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Pelvic fins abdominal; body slender, usually compressed; gill openings wide; caudal fin deeply forked; caudal fin with seven hypurals; scales cycloid; mesocoracoid and postcleithra present; gular plate well developed (median); branchiostegal rays 23-35; mouth bordered by premaxilla and toothed maxilla; upper jaw extending past eye; tip of snout not overhanging mouth (mouth terminal or superior); no sensory canal extending onto the small premaxilla. Leptocephali small, maximum length about 5 cm, with a well-developed, forked, caudal fin, a posterior dorsal fin (pelvic fins in older larvae), and about 53-86 myomeres. |
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Classetymology |
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Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335. |
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Orderetymology |
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Greek, ellops = a kind of serpent + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335). |
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Families |
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Converted to PHP by Kit 06.10.09 |