Syngnathiformes
{{Short description|Order of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Santonian|present|ref=}}
| image = Trumpetfish.jpg
| image_caption = Trumpetfish (Aulostomus maculatus: Aulostomidae), head in natural pose
| taxon = Syngnathiformes
| display_parents = 3
| authority =
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision = See text
| type_species = Syngnathus acus
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
}}
The Syngnathiformes {{IPAc-en|'|s|ɪ|ŋ|(|g|)|n|ə|θ|ᵻ|f|ɔːr|m|iː|z}} are an order of ray-finned fishes that includes the leafy seadragons, sea moths, trumpetfishes and seahorses, among others.FishBase (2005): [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/OrdersSummary.cfm?order=Syngnathiformes Order Summary for Syngnathiformes]. Version of 2005-FEB-15. Retrieved 19 Aug 2008.
These fishes have generally elongate, narrow bodies surrounded by a series of bony rings, with small, tubular mouths. The shape of their mouth—at least, in syngnathids—allows for the ingestion of prey at close range via suction.{{cite web |last=Langley |first=Liz |date=26 November 2013 |url=http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/26/why-does-the-seahorse-have-its-odd-head-mystery-solved/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127023754/http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/26/why-does-the-seahorse-have-its-odd-head-mystery-solved/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 27, 2013 |title=Why Does the Seahorse Have Its Odd Head? Mystery Solved – News Watch |publisher=Newswatch.nationalgeographic.com }} Many species of Syngnathiformes also employ strategic camouflage (such as cryptic coloration and overall physical form) to hunt successfully and gain closer access to prey, as well as to protect themselves from larger predators. Several groups, for example, live among seaweed, not only swimming with their bodies aligned vertically (to blend in with the floating plant matter) but have also developed physical features that mimic the seaweed. The pygmy seahorses are among the smallest of all syngnathids, with most being so tiny—and mimicking the specific coral they spend their lives on—that they were only recently described by scientists.
The most defining characteristic of Syngnathiformes is their reproductive and sexual system, in which syngnathid males become "pregnant" and carry the embryonic fry. The males house the fertilized eggs in an osmo-regulated brood pouch, or (in some species) adhere them to their tail, until the eggs reach maturity.
The name Syngnathiformes means "conjoined-jaws". It is derived from Ancient Greek syn (συν, "together") + gnathos (γνάθος, "jaw"). The ending for orders, "-formes", is derived from Latin, and indicates "of similar form".
Fossil record
File:Eekaulostomus.jpg, an early fossil syngnathiform]]
The earliest known syngnathiform is Gasteroramphosus from the late Cretaceous (either Santonian or Campanian) of Italy, which is similar in form to Marcroramphosus but which has some characters which are suggestive of a relation to Gasterosteoidei.{{cite book |author1=Nelson, JS |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLDDCwAAQBAJ&q=Macroramphosus+Nelson&pg=PA410 |title=Classification of fishes from Fishes of the World 5th Edition |author2=Grande, TC |author3=Wilson, MVH |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2016 |isbn=978-1119220817 |page=410 |name-list-style=amp}} However, most recent studies have reaffirmed it being a syngnathiform.{{Cite journal |last=Brownstein |first=C D |date=2023-01-10 |title=Syngnathoid Evolutionary History and the Conundrum of Fossil Misplacement |journal=Integrative Organismal Biology |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.1093/iob/obad011 |issn=2517-4843 |pmc=10210065 |pmid=37251781}}{{Cite journal |last=Friedman |first=Matt |last2=V. Andrews |first2=James |last3=Saad |first3=Hadeel |last4=El-Sayed |first4=Sanaa |date=2023-06-16 |title=The Cretaceous–Paleogene transition in spiny-rayed fishes: surveying “Patterson’s Gap” in the acanthomorph skeletal record André Dumont medalist lecture 2018 |url=https://popups.uliege.be/1374-8505/index.php?id=7048 |journal=Geologica Belgica |language=en |doi=10.20341/gb.2023.002 |issn=1374-8505 |doi-access=free}} The second oldest syngnathiform is the syngnathoid Eekaulostomus from the early Paleocene (Danian) of Mexico. Many fossil syngnathiform families are known from the Paleogene.{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Alison M. |date=2022-12-31 |title=Re-description and phylogenetic relationships of † Protosyngnathus sumatrensis (Teleostei: Syngnathoidei), a freshwater pipefish from the Eocene of Sumatra, Indonesia |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772019.2022.2113832 |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |language=en |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2022.2113832 |issn=1477-2019|url-access=subscription }}
Systematics and taxonomy
In some models, these fishes are placed as the suborder Syngnathoidei of the order Gasterosteiformes together with the sticklebacks and their relatives.E.G. Helfman et al. (1997), ITIS (2004), Nelson (2006) Better supported by the evidence now available is the traditional beliefE.g. McAllister (1968) that they are better considered separate orders, and indeed among the Acanthopterygii, they might not be particularly close relatives at all.{{cite journal | author = Kawahara Ryouka, Miya Masaki, Mabuchi Kohji, Lavoue Sébastien, Inoue Jun G., Satoh Takashi P., Kawaguchi Akira, Nishida Mutsumi | year = 2008 | title = Interrelationships of the 11 gasterosteiform families (sticklebacks, pipefishes, and their relatives): A new perspective based on mitogenome sequences from 75 higher teleosts | journal = Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. | volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 224–236 | doi = 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.009 | pmid = 17709262 }}
In addition, the Pegasidae (dragonfishes and sea moths) are variously placed with the pipefish or the stickleback lineage. While the placement in Syngnathiformes seems to be correct for the latter, the former is possibly an actinopterygian order of its own. Following the convention of the major fish classification organizations (Fish Base, ITIS, Encyclopedia of Life), the Indostomidae are currently placed in the Gasterosteiformes.
Morphological traits uniting the flying gurnards (Dactylopteridae) and the Syngnathiformes have long been noted.Pietsch, T.W. (1978): Evolutionary relationships of the sea moths (Teleostei: Pegasidae) with a classification of gasterosteiform families. Copeia 1978(3): 517–529. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1443620 JPEG abstract and first page text] Most authors, however, placed them with the Scorpaeniformes. However, DNA sequence data quite consistently support the belief that the latter are paraphyletic with the Gasterosteiformes sensu lato. As it seems, flying gurnards are particularly close to Aulostomidae and Fistulariidae, and probably should be included with these.
- Order Syngnathiformes
- Suborder Syngnathoidei
- Superfamily Pegasoidea
- Family Pegasidae (seamoths)
- Superfamily Syngnathoidea
- Family Solenostomidae (ghost pipefishes)
- Family Syngnathidae (pipefishes and seahorses)
- Subfamily Syngnathinae (pipefishes)
- Subfamily Hippocampinae (seahorses and pygmy pipehorses)
- Suborder Aulostomoidei
- Superfamily Aulostomoidea
- Family Aulostomidae (trumpetfishes)
- Family Fistularidae (cornetfishes)
- Superfamily Centriscoidea
- Family Macroramphosidae (snipefishes)
- Family Centriscidae (shrimpfishes)
- Family Dactylopteridae (flying gurnards)
Other authorities are of the view that without the inclusion of other taxa within Syngnathiformes then the order is paraphyletic. This wider order consists of a "long snouted" clade and a benthic clade and this classification is:{{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 | year = 2017 | title = Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3| journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 17 | issue = 162 | page = 162 | pmc = 5501477 | pmid=28683774 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | author1 = S.J. Longo | author2 = B.C. Faircloth | author3 = A. Meyer | author4 = M.W. Westneat | author5 =M.E. Alfaroe | author6 = P.C. Wainwright | name-list-style = amp | year= 2017 | title = Phylogenomic analysis of a rapid radiation of misfit fishes (Syngnathiformes) using ultraconserved elements | url = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/28g215mc| journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 113 | issue = August 2017 | pages = 33–48 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2017.05.002| pmid = 28487262 | s2cid = 13929577 | doi-access = free }} Abstract.
- Order Syngnathiformes
- "long snouted clade"
- Suborder Syngnathoidei
- Family Solenostomidae (ghost pipefishes)
- Family Syngnathidae (pipefishes and seahorses)
- Family Aulostomidae (trumpetfishes)
- Family Fistularidae (cornetfishes)
- Family Centriscidae (shrimpfishes and snipefishes)
- "Benthic clade"
- Suborder Callionymoidei
- Family Callionymidae (dragonets)
- Family Draconettidae (slope dragonets)
- Suborder Mulloidei
- Family Mullidae (goatfishes)
- Suborder Dactylopteroidei
- Family Dactylopteridae (flying gurnards)
- Family Pegasidae (seamoths)
In their study Longo et al (2017) found that there were short distances between the groupings on the Syngnathiform phylogenetic tree and this supported a hypothesis that there had been a rapid but ancient radiation in the basal Syngnathiformes.
Syngnathiformes contains about 290 recognized extant species, depending which taxonomy is adopted. Of these, 252 are in the family Syngnathidae.
= Fossil families =
The following fossil families are known:
- Family †Aulorhamphidae
- Family †Paraeoliscidae
- Suborder Syngnathoidei
- Family †Eekaulostomidae
- Superfamily Aulostomoidea
- Family †Fistularioididae
- Family †Parasynarcualidae
- Family †Urosphenidae
- Superfamily Syngnathoidea
- Family †Protosyngnathidae
- Superfamily Centriscoidea
- Family †Gerpegezhidae
- Suborder Dactylopteroidei
- Superfamily Pegasoidea
- Family †Rhamphosidae
References
{{Reflist}}
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (2004): [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=166438 Syngnathoidei (TSN 166438)]. Retrieved 2006-APR-08
- {{cite journal | author = McAllister D.E. | year = 1968 | title = Evolution of branchiostegals and classification of teleostome fishes | journal = Bulletin of the National Museum of Canada, Ottawa | volume = 221 | pages = 1–239 }}
- Nelson, Joseph S. (2006): Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. {{ISBN|0-471-25031-7}}
External links
- Skaphandrus.com [http://skaphandrus.com/en/marine_species/order/Syngnathiformes Syngnathiformes] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130216185733/http://skaphandrus.com/en/marine_species/order/Syngnathiformes |date=2013-02-16 }}
{{Actinopterygii}}
{{Diversity of fish}}
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