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perciformes

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

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Perciformes

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|63|0|earliest=Maastrichtian|Early Paleocene to present}}

| image = Kirnja.jpg

| image_caption =

| image2 = Gnathanacanthus goetzeei 3.jpg

| image2_caption = Top: Dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus)
Bottom: Red velvetfish (Gnathanacanthus goetzeei)

| taxon = Perciformes

| authority = Bleeker, 1863

| subdivision_ranks = Suborders

| subdivision = * Percoidei

| type_species = Perca fluviatilis

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

}}

Perciformes ({{IPAc-en|'|p|ɜːr|s|ᵻ|ˌ|f|ɔːr|m|iː|z}}), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. Perciformes means "perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters (Percidae), and also sea basses and groupers (Serranidae).{{Cite web |title=Perciform - Form and function |url=https://www.britannica.com/animal/perciform |access-date=2019-02-14 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}} This order contains many familiar freshwater temperate and tropical marine fish groups, but also extremophiles that have successfully colonized both the North and South Poles, as well as the deepest depths of the ocean.{{Cite journal |last=Thacker |first=Christine E. |last2=Near |first2=Thomas J. |date=2025-03-13 |title=Phylogeny, biology, and evolution of acanthopterygian fish clades |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11160-025-09935-w |journal=Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11160-025-09935-w |issn=1573-5184|doi-access=free }}

Taxonomy

Formerly, this group was thought to be even more diverse than it is thought to be now, containing about 41% of all bony fish (about 10,000 species) and about 160 families, which is the most of any order within the vertebrates.{{Cite book |last=Nelson |first=J. S. |title=Fishes of the World |date=2006 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-471-25031-9 |edition=4 |location=Hoboken, NJ}} However, many of these other families have since been reclassified within their own orders within the clade Percomorpha, significantly reducing the size of the group. In contrast to this splitting, other groups formerly considered distinct, such as the Scorpaeniformes, are now classified in the Perciformes.{{cite book |author1=J. S. Nelson |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |title=Fishes of the World |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |publisher=Wiley |year=2016 |ISBN=978-1-118-34233-6 |edition=5th |pages=497-502 |access-date=2020-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |archive-date=2019-04-08 |url-status=dead}}

= Evolution =

The earliest fossil perciform is the extinct stem group-perciform{{Cite journal |last=Near |first=Thomas J. |last2=Thacker |first2=Christine E. |date=2024-04-18 |title=Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-peabody-museum-of-natural-history/volume-65/issue-1/014.065.0101/Phylogenetic-Classification-of-Living-and-Fossil-Ray-Finned-Fishes-Actinopterygii/10.3374/014.065.0101.full |journal=Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History |volume=65 |issue=1 |doi=10.3374/014.065.0101 |issn=0079-032X}} Paleoserranus (originally considered an early serranid) from the Early Paleocene of Mexico, but potential records of "percoids" are known from the Maastrichtian, including Eoserranus and Prolates, although their exact taxonomic identity remains uncertain.{{Cite journal |last=Cantalice |first=Kleyton M. |last2=Alvarado-Ortega |first2=Jesús |last3=Alaniz-Galvan |first3=Abril |date=2018-04-01 |title=Paleoserranus lakamhae gen. et sp. nov., a Paleocene seabass (Perciformes: Serranidae) from Palenque, Chiapas, southeastern Mexico |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089598111730487X |journal=Journal of South American Earth Sciences |volume=83 |pages=137–146 |doi=10.1016/j.jsames.2018.01.010 |issn=0895-9811}}{{Cite journal |last=Kriwet |first=Jürgen |last2=Arratia |first2=Gloria |last3=López-Arbarello |first3=Adriana |last4=Parmar |first4=Varun |last5=Prasad |first5=Guntupalli |date=2004-01-01 |title=Late Cretaceous-Paleocene percomorphs (Teleostei) from India - early radiation of perciformes |url=https://www.academia.edu/978479/Late_Cretaceous_Paleocene_percomorphs_Teleostei_from_India_early_radiation_of_perciformes |journal=Recent advances in …}} The earliest crown-group perciform fossils are known from the Early Eocene, including the scorpaenoid Eosynanceja and platycephalid otoliths from New Zealand.

= Classification =

Classification of this group has long been controversial, with various families being placed in and out of Perciformes depending on the study. Only in recent decades, with the advent of molecular phylogenetics, has the classification of the family been largely resolved. Based on these studies, many suborders formerly placed within the Perciformes are better placed elsewhere in the Percomorpha, but former members of the Scorpaeniformes, Gasterosteiformes, and some members of the Trachiniformes (including the type genus) are now considered true perciforms.{{Cite web |last=Fricke |first=R. |last2=Eschmeyer |first2=W. N. |last3=Van der Laan |first3=R. |date=2025 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Academy of Sciences |language=en}}

== Present classification ==

The following classification is based on Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes:

== Past classifications ==

As traditionally defined before the introduction of cladistics, the Perciformes are almost certainly paraphyletic. Other orders that should possibly be included as suborders are the Scorpaeniformes, Tetraodontiformes, and Pleuronectiformes.

Of the presently recognized suborders, several may be paraphyletic, as well. These are grouped by suborder/superfamily, generally following the text Fishes of the World.{{FishBase order |order=Perciformes|month=August |year=2015}}{{cite web|title=ADW: Perciformes|url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Perciformes/classification/|work=animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu|publisher=Animal Diversity Web}}

File:Perciformes 01.jpg.]]

File:Pomacanthus semicirculatus 1.jpg]]

{| class="wikitable"
colspan="1" |Nelson 2016{{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=430–467 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=8 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}

! colspan="1" |Betancur-Rodriguez et al. 2017{{cite journal |last1=Betancur-R |first1=Ricardo |last2=Wiley |first2=Edward O. |last3=Arratia |first3=Gloria |last4=Acero |first4=Arturo |last5=Bailly |first5=Nicolas |last6=Miya |first6=Masaki |last7=Lecointre |first7=Guillaume |last8=Ortí |first8=Guillermo |title=Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |date=6 July 2017 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=162 |doi=10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 |pmid=28683774 |issn=1471-2148|doi-access=free |pmc=5501477 }}

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Characteristics

The dorsal and anal fins are divided into anterior spiny and posterior soft-rayed portions, which may be partially or completely separated. The pelvic fins usually have one spine and up to five soft rays, positioned unusually far forward under the chin or under the belly. Scales are usually ctenoid (rough to the touch), although sometimes they are cycloid (smooth to the touch) or otherwise modified.

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Actinopterygii}}

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Category:Ray-finned fish orders

Category:Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker

Category:Extant Danian first appearances