Acropomatiformes

{{Short description|Order of ray-finned fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Maastrichtian|recent}}

| image = Banjos banjos.jpg

| image_caption = Banjos banjos

| taxon = Acropomatiformes

| authority = Davis, Sparks & Smith, 2016

}}

The Acropomatiformes{{Cite web |title=Order Summary for Acropomatiformes |url=https://www.fishbase.se/summary/OrdersSummary.php?Order=Acropomatiformes |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.fishbase.se}}{{Cite journal |last=Parenti |first=Paolo |date=January 13, 2019 |title=Order Acropomatiformes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330351374_ACROPOMATIFORMES_by_Parenti |journal= |via=ResearchGate}}{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Matthew P. |last2=Sparks |first2=John S. |last3=Smith |first3=W. Leo |date=2016-06-08 |editor-last=Thuesen |editor-first=Erik V. |title=Repeated and Widespread Evolution of Bioluminescence in Marine Fishes |url=https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0155154 |journal=PLoS One |language=en |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=e0155154 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0155154 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4898709 |pmid=27276229 |doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last=Ghedotti |first=Michael J. |last2=Gruber |first2=Josephine N. |last3=Barton |first3=Ryan W. |last4=Davis |first4=Matthew P. |last5=Smith |first5=W. Leo |date=October 22, 2018 |title=Morphology and evolution of bioluminescent organs in the glowbellies (Percomorpha: Acropomatidae) with comments on the taxonomy and phylogeny of Acropomatiformes |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.20894 |journal=Journal of Morphology |language=en |volume=279 |issue=11 |pages=1640–1653 |doi=10.1002/jmor.20894 |issn=0362-2525|url-access=subscription }} or Pempheriformes {{Cite web |last=taxonomy |title=Taxonomy browser (Pempheriformes) |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=1489939 |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov}} are an order of fish from the group of perch relatives Percomorpha. The relationship of the families assigned to the Acropomatiformes is based on molecular biological studies and is not yet supported by morphological characteristics.

The giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with a maximum length of {{Convert|2.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} and weight of {{Convert|256|kg|lb|abbr=on}}, is the largest species of the Pempheriformes.

As early as 2007, Smith and Craig established a relationship between the wreckfish Polyprionidae, the longfin pike Dinolestes lewini, the armored heads Pentacerotidae and the lanternbellies Acropomatidae. In February 2009, Blaise Li and colleagues described a monophyletic clade composed of the Howellidae, the Lateolabracidae and the deep-sea cardinalfishes Epigonidae in their analysis of the relationships between the various groups of the Acanthomorpha.

In a revision of the bony fish systematics published in early 2013 by Ricardo Betancur-R. and colleagues, an order Pempheriformes with a total of 14 families was introduced as a new order of the perch-like family Percomorphaceae. The families assigned to this order previously belonged to the order of the perch-like family Perciformes. However, with the advent of cladistics and the method of DNA comparison for relationship analysis, it became clear that the Perciformes do not represent a monophylum. In October 2015, two and in October 2018 four more families were added, so that the order Pempheriformes comprises a total of 20 fish families at the end of 2018. Davis, Sparks and Smith changed the name of the order to Acropomatiformes in 2016, which was adopted by FishBase and Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes, two online databases on the systematics of fish.

The earliest known records of this group are fossil otoliths assigned to Pempheridae from the Maastrichtian of the United States, Acropoma otoliths from the middle Paleocene of Denmark, and epigonid otoliths ("Epigonidarum") from the mid-late Paleocene of Ukraine. Complete fossil specimens of Acropoma are known from the Early Eocene of Italy (Monte Bolca).{{Cite journal |last1=Carnevale |first1=G. |last2=Bannikov |first2=Alexandre F. |last3=Marramà |first3=G. |last4=Tyler |first4=James C. |last5=Zorzin. |first5=R. |date=2014 |title=The Bolca Fossil-Lagerstätte: A window into the Eocene World. 5. The Pesciara- Monte Postale Fossil-Lagerstätte: 2. Fishes and other vertebrates. Excursion guide |url=https://iris.unito.it/bitstream/2318/149338/1/Carnevale%20et%20al%202014%20The%20Pesciara%20F-L.%20Fishes%20and%20other%20vertebrates2.pdf |journal=Rendiconti della Società Paleontologica Italiana |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=i–xxvii |hdl=10088/25678}}