:Emmelichthyidae
{{Short description|Family of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Plagiogeneion rubiginosum (Rubyfish).gif
| image_caption = Rubyfish (Plagiogeneion rubiginosum)
| taxon = Emmelichthyidae
| authority = Poey, 1867{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp | year = 2014 | title = Family-group names of Recent fishes | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268078514 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 001–230 | doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = see text
}}
Emmelichthyidae is a small family of small to medium-sized marine ray-finned fishes known commonly as rovers, bonnetmouths or rubyfishes.
Taxonomy
Emmelichthyidae was first proposed as a taxonomic grouping in 1867 by the Cuban naturalist Felipe Poey. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the family in the suborder Sciaenoidei, alongside the drum family Sciaenidae, in the order Acanthuriformes.{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=497–502 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2023-04-10 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }} Other authorities classify the Emmelichthyidae and the Sciaenidae as incertae sedis within the series Eupercaria.{{cite journal | author1 = Ricardo Betancur-R | author2 = Edward O. Wiley | author3 = Gloria Arratia | author4 = Arturo Acero | author5 = Nicolas Bailly | author6 = Masaki Miya | author7 = Guillaume Lecointre | author8 = Guillermo Ortí | display-authors = 3 | title =Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 17 | issue = 162 | year = 2017 | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3| doi-access = free | pmc = 5501477 | bibcode = 2017BMCEE..17..162B }} The Catalog of Fishes retains this family within the Acanthuriformes but does not recognise the suborder Sciaenoidei.{{cite web | url = https://www.calacademy.org/scientists/catalog-of-fishes-classification/?_gl=1*13cdx0f*_ga*ODkzMTk1MjkzLjE2Nzg0Mzg5Mzk.*_ga_6Y72VP61VZ*MTY4MTE0MjczNy43Mi4xLjE2ODExNDQ0MzAuNjAuMC4w | title = Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification | access-date = 10 April 2023 | publisher = California Academy of Sciences}} The family was formerly regarded as being much larger, including a wide range of plankton-eating fish, but most of the genera previously included were discovered to be unrelated examples of parallel evolution, and were moved to other families.{{cite book |editor=Paxton, J.R. |editor2=Eschmeyer, W.N.|author1=Johnson, G.D. |author2=Gill, A.C.|year=1998|title=Encyclopedia of Fishes|publisher= Academic Press|location=San Diego|isbn= 0-12-547665-5|page= 184}}{{cite journal|last1=Heemstra|first1=PC|last2=Randall|first2=JE|title=A revision of the Emmelichthyidae (Pisces : Perciformes)|journal=Marine and Freshwater Research|volume=28|issue=3|year=1977|pages=361|issn=1323-1650|doi=10.1071/MF9770361}}
Genera
The family Emmelichthyidae contains the following three genera:{{FishBase family|family=Emmelichthyidae|month=February|year=2023}}{{Cof family|family=Emmelichthyidae|access-date=10 April 2023}}
{{Linked genus list
| Emmelichthys | Richardson, 1845
| Erythrocles | Jordan, 1919
| Plagiogeneion | Forbes, 1890
}}
Characteristics
Emmelichthyidae are streamlined fishes with much of their heads and bodies covered in small ctenoid scales which also extend on the base of both the dorsal and anal fin. They have distensible jaws and large mouths with the maxillae widely expanded and clearly scaled. The lower jaw protrudes slightly and the teeth highly reduced or there are none at all. The rear margin of the operculum has a pair of flat spines. The dorsal fin is long and may be divided into 2 fins with the anal fin being similar and opposite the soft-rayed portion of the dorsal fin. The caudal fin has a deep fork.{{cite web | author = Martin F. Gomon | title = Bonnetmouths, EMMELICHTHYIDAE | work = Fishes of Australia | access-date = 10 April 2023 | url = https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/family/58 | publisher = Museums Victoria}} Typically these fish do not exceed {{cvt|50|cm}} in length.
Distribution
Emmelichthyidae is distributed in tropical and warmer temperate waters in the Indo-Pacific, southern Pacific, eastern Atlantic, and Caribbean Sea.WoRMS (2014). [http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=125534 Emmelichthyidae.] In: Froese, R. and D. Pauly, Editors. FishBase. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species.