Moronidae

Moronidae was first proposed as a family in 1896 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann. The 5th edition of the Fishes of the World classifies this family in the order Moroniformes with the Ephippidae and Drepaneidae.{{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=495–497 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |archive-date=2019-04-08 |access-date=2023-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }} Other authorities place the Ephippidae and Drepaneidae in the order Ephippiformes with the Moronidae classified as incertae sedis in 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 | page = 162 | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3| doi-access = free | pmid = 28683774 | pmc = 5501477 | bibcode = 2017BMCEE..17..162B }} Other authorities classify all three families in the Moroniformes sensu Fishes of the World in the Acanthuriformes.{{cite web | url = https://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/SpeciesByFamily.asp | title = GENERA/SPECIES BY FAMILY/SUBFAMILY IN Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes | year = 2020 | author1 = Ron Fricke | author2 = William Eschmeyer | author3 = Jon David Fong | name-list-style = and | website = Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes}}

File:Dicentrarchus labrax01.jpg]]

File:Striped Bass in the Baltimore Aquarium.jpg]]

Moronidae basses are classified within the two living genera Morone and Dicentrarchus as follows:{{FishBase family|family=Moronidae|month=February|year=2023}}

• Dicentrarchus {{small|T. N. Gill, 1860}}
• D. labrax{{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}} - (European seabass)
• D. punctatus {{small|(Bloch, 1792)}} - (spotted seabass)
• Morone {{small|Mitchill, 1814}}
• M. americana {{small|J. F. Gmelin, 1789)}} - (white perch)
• M. chrysops {{small|Rafinesque, 1820)}} - (white bass)
• M. mississippiensis {{small|D. S. Jordan & C. H. Eigenmann, 1887}} - (yellow bass)
• M. saxatilis {{small|(Walbaum, 1792)}} - (striped bass)
• {{extinct}}Beaumontoperca Gaudant, 2000 (Oligocene; Europe)
• B. beaumonti (Agassiz, 1836) (Chattian; France)
• {{extinct}}Cockerellites {{small|Jordan & Hanibal, 1923}} (Eocene; North America)
• †C. liops {{small|Cope, 1877}} (Ypresian; United States)
• †Paramorone David, 1946 (Eocene; North America){{Cite journal |last=David |first=Lorre R. |date=1946 |title=Some Typical Upper Eogene Fish Scales from California |url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/records/v03cm-86s21 |journal=Contributions to Paleontology |volume=IV}}
• †P. eocenica David, 1946 (Priabonian; United States)
• †Priscacara {{small|Cope, 1877}} (Eocene; North America)
• †P. aquilonia {{small|Wilson, 1977}} (Ypresian; Canada)
• †P. campi {{small|Hesse, 1936}} (Eocene; United States)
• †P. serrata {{small|Cope, 1877}} (Ypresian; United States)

The genus Lateolabrax had formerly been classified in the Moronidae but is now placed in either Polyprionidae or Lateolabracidae.

Moronidae basses have oblong bodies which are slightly compressed. They have large mouths with the upper jaw being broad to the rear, leading to most of the jaw being exposed when the mouth is closed. The jaws have bands of small, conical teeth with no canine-like teeth. There are also bands of simple teeth on the sides and front of the roof of the mouth. There are also 2 parallel bands of simple teeth on the base of the tongue. The operculum has 3 flat spines while the preoperculum is finely toothed.{{cite web | url = https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/thefishes/taxon/3463 | title = Family: MORONIDAE, Temperate bass, Temperate Basses | access-date =31 March 2023 | work = Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system | publisher = Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute}} The first dorsal fin has between 8 and 10 spines and the second has a single spine and between 10 and 13 soft rays. The anal fin has 3 spines and between 9 and 12 soft rays, and has its origin far to the rear of the origin of the second dorsal fin. The caudal fin is forked and the caudal peduncle has a dense covering of scales. The head and body are covered in small, rough scales. There are between 50 and 72 pores in the continuous lateral line, which extends almost as far as the rear margin of the caudal fin, and there are additional rows of lateral-line scales on the caudal fin over and under the main line. The largest species is the striped bass (Morone saxatilis) with a maximum published total length of {{cvt|200|cm}} while the smallest is the white bass (M. chrysops) with a maximum published total length of {{cvt|45|cm}}.

Moronidae basses are only found in the north Atlantic Ocean. The seabasses in the genus Dicentrarchus are found in the eastern Atlantic where they inhabit coastal seas and estuaries from Norway south to northern Africa, including the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The genus Morone is found in eastern North America with one mainly marine species and three largely freshwater species. They have been introduced elsewhere.

Moronidae basses move into inshore waters, estuaries and rivermouths in the summer, but in winter they move farther offshore and into deeper waters. The young fish gather in schools, but the adults appear to be more solitary. They are predatory, feeding mainly on shrimp and mollusks, as well as smaller fish.{{cite web | title = Fishing Techniques. Basses lining. Technology Fact Sheets | date = 17 February 2005 | access-date = 31 March 2023 | url =

https://www.fao.org/fishery/en/fishtech/1052/en | publisher = FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division [online]. Rome}}

Moronidae basses are important target fishes for recreational sea angling, and some species support significant commercial fisheries{{cite web | url = https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Fishing/Freshwater/Freshwater-Fishes-of-Connecticut/Temperate-Basses | title = Temperate Basses (Moronidae) | access-date = 31 March 2023 | publisher = Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection}} and are used in aquaculture.{{cite web | url = https://www.seafish.org/responsible-sourcing/aquaculture-farming-seafood/species-farmed-in-aquaculture/aquaculture-profiles/european-sea-bass/ | title = European Sea Bass | access-date = 31 March 2023 | publisher = seafish}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q757287}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Acanthuriformes families

Category:Taxa named by David Starr Jordan

Category:Taxa named by Barton Warren Evermann