Form and function

General features

Many mail-cheeked fishes, such as the rockfishes, have simple fusiform (spindle-shaped) body plans, but others, such as some sea poachers, are extremely slender. Most scorpaenids, triglids, and cottids have two dorsal fins (sometimes joined), the forward one supported by stiff spines. In general, the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins are large, sometimes strikingly so, but in some groups (such as the cyclopterids) the spinous dorsal fin is reduced or absent.

The one feature diagnostic of the order is the presence of a bony bar, or stay, beneath the eye, an extension of the second infraorbital bone. It is small and inconspicuous in some primitive scorpaeniforms and secondarily reduced in some specialized forms; in others, however, it is readily evident. Often it has become externally prominent, bearing protrusions or spines, or has expanded and fused other cranial bones to form a hard armour.

Camouflage and coloration

Many scorpaeniform fishes, such as scorpion fishes, rockfishes, and sculpins, which live on coral or on rocky bottoms, possess a remarkable degree of cryptic (concealing) coloration and shape. Numerous fleshy lappets adorn the head, fin membranes, and body scales, rendering the fish virtually invisible against a background of rocks covered with marine organisms. The effectiveness of this camouflage can be appreciated best when the fish is viewed in its natural habitat.

Some members of the order, such as the sea robins, are notable for brilliant colours, especially reds. The large pectoral fins are often strikingly coloured; in the European tub gurnard (Trigla lucerna) they have spots of bright green and peacock blue. The spots on the pectorals of the flying gurnards resemble eyes and apparently function to startle and frighten potential predators when the fins are suddenly spread. The brightly coloured fins of some sea robins may function in a similar manner.

Annotated classification

The following classification follows those proposed by American ichthyologists W.N. Eschmeyer and S.G. Poss, Canadian ichthyologist J. S. Nelson, and the Japanese ichthyologists H. Imamura, M. Ishida, and G. Shinohara.

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• Order Scorpaeniformes (mail-cheeked fishes)

  Spiny-finned fishes generally with stout bodies. 2nd infraorbital bone united with the preopercular to form a rigid stay across the cheek. Pelvic fins thoracic in location (sometimes modified into sucker disks), the bones directly attached to cleithra (bones like the collarbones of higher vertebrates). 1,477 species.

  • Suborder Scorpaenoidei

    Moderate-sized fishes with 24 to 44 vertebrae; anterior ribs absent or sessile (rigidly attached). A heterogeneous assemblage of some 473 species.

    • Family Sebastidae (rockfishes, rockcods, and thornyheads)

      The genus Sebastes is live-bearing. Marine, widely distributed in all oceans. 7 genera, about 130 species.

    • Families Setarchidae and Neosebastidae

      5 genera and about 22 species.

    • Family Scorpaenidae (scorpion fishes and redfishes)

      Perchlike appearance, dorsal fin spines long and numerous; head spiny, body scaly. Locally important food fishes, some with venom glands on fin spines. Size to about 100 cm (39 inches). Marine fishes widely distributed in tropical, temperate, and northern seas. About 56 genera and 418 species. Paleocene to present.

    • Family Apistidae

      1 or 3 lower pectoral rays and bilobed swim bladder. 3 genera, 3 species.

    • Family Tetrarogidae (sailback scorpion fishes or waspfishes)

      Extremely venomous. About 11 genera and 38 species.

    • Family Synanceiidae (stonefishes)

      Scaleless, body covered with warty tubercles; vertebrae 23–30. Venom glands on fin spines; dangerously venomous. Size to about 60 cm (24 inches). Tropical Indo-Pacific. 9 genera and 35 species.

    • Families Aploactinidae, Pataecidae, Caracanthidae, and Gnathanacanthidae (velvetfishes, prowfishes, coral crouchers, and red velvetfishes)

      Small scaleless fishes (except Caracanthidae, which have dense dermal papillae, and Aploactinidae, which have modified velvety scales). Size to about 25 cm (10 inches). Tropical Pacific and Indian oceans, often in coral. About 22 genera, about 47 species.

    • Family Congiopodidae (horse fishes)

      Moderate-sized fishes with angular bodies and well-developed dorsal fin spines. Scaleless but sometimes rough skins. Size to 75 cm (30 inches). In moderately deep cold waters of Southern Hemisphere, off South America, Australia, and South Africa. 4 genera, 15 species.

  • Suborder Dactylopteroidei

    • Family Dactylopteridae (flying gurnards)

      Resemble Triglidae; head large, covered by bony plates that are expanded into huge shields. First infraorbital bone connected to preoperculum. Pectoral rays long, numerous, and brightly coloured. Size to 50 cm (20 inches). Tropical and warm temperate regions of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans. 2 genera, about 7 species.

  • Suborder Platycephaloidei

    Moderate-sized with head and anterior part of body strongly flattened. Vertebrae about 27. Some forms have no swim bladder.

    • Family Platycephalidae (flatheads)

      Head and body flattened anteriorly. Size to 130 cm (52 inches) and 15 kg (33 pounds). Marine; usually buried in soft bottom, some forms on coral; Indo-Pacific and tropical eastern Atlantic. Important commercial fishes in Southeast Asia, tropical Australia, and elsewhere. About 18 genera with about 65 species.

    • Family Triglidae (gurnards and sea robins)

      Characterized by rather slender form, body with scales or bony plates. 3 lower pectoral fin rays separate, forming a tactile organ. Small barbels on lower jaw or barbels absent. Locally exploited by people as food. Size to about 70 cm (28 inches). Benthic marine fishes of warm and temperate seas from shallow water to 500 metres.10 genera with approximately 100 species. Late Eocene to present.

    • Family Peristediidae (armoured gurnards and armoured sea robins)

      Characterized by rather slender form, body and tail with large bony scutes; head heavily armoured. 2 lower pectoral fin rays separate. Large barbels on lower jaw. Deep benthic marine fishes from 200 to 500 metres (660 to 1,650 feet) in the tropical areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. 4 genera with 36 species.

    • Family Hoplichthyidae (ghost flatheads or spiny flatheads)

      Small fishes with very depressed bodies. Scaleless; body with bony plates. Head with heavy spiny ridges. Vertebrae 26. Size to 43 cm (17 inches). Found in moderately deep water in Indo-Pacific region. 1 genus, Hoplichthys, with about 11 species.

    • Family Bembridae (deepwater flatheads)

      Small bottom fishes living on the continental shelf at depths of from about 150 to 650 metres (about 500 to 2,100 feet), with large, depressed heads and subcyclindrical bodies. Length to about 30 cm (12 inches). 5 genera, 11 species.

  • Suborder Hexagrammoidei

    Moderate-sized, slender-bodied fishes. Vertebrae 42–64; ribs attached to strong parapophyses (projections of vertebrae). Small scales, long dorsal fins, spines on the head few, powerful teeth in jaws. Locally important food fishes, some with sporting value. Size of most Hexagrammidae (greenlings) and Anoplopomatidae (sablefish) to about 45 cm (18 inches), some longer. Few species, midwater and benthic. Northern Pacific.

    • Family Hexagrammidae (greenlings and allies)

      Vertebrae 36–63. 5 genera and 12 species.

  • Suborder Anoplopomatoidei

    • Family Anoplopomatidae (sable fishes)

      2 monotypic genera.

  • Suborder Normanichthyoidei

    • Family Normanichthyidae

      Head and body with ctenoid (fringed) scales; head without spines. 2 well-separated dorsal fins, soft fin rays branched. Size to 11 cm (4 inches). 1 species, Normanichthys crockeri, of uncertain affinities; possibly not closely related to other scorpaeniforms. Marine waters off Chile.

  • Suborder Cottoidei

    Small to moderate-size fishes. Mostly without scales; many with spiny skins, others with bony plates. 756 species. Marine, from temperate to polar seas, and freshwater in Northern Hemisphere.

    • Family Cottidae (sculpins and bullheads)

      Generally large-headed, with well-developed head spines. Mostly small, some up to 60 cm (24 inches). About 70 genera with about 275 species. Marine and freshwater of the Northern Hemisphere (1 genus, Antipodocottus, said to occur in the Tasman Sea and Coral Sea). Oligocene to present.

    • Family Cottocomephoridae (Baikal sculpins)

      Similar to cottids but postcleithral bones absent or rudimentary. Size to about 20 cm (8 inches). Freshwater, endemic to Lake Baikal, Russia. 3 genera and 7 species.

    • Family Comephoridae (Baikal oilfishes)

      Size to about 20 cm (8 inches). Freshwater, endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia. 1 genus (Comephorus) with 2 species.

    • Family Psychrolutidae (fathead sculpins)

      Body naked, with loose skin, or with plates bearing prickles; lateral line reduced; pelvic fin with one spine and three soft rays; vertebrae 28–38. Size to 65 cm (26 inches). Shallow to deep waters (2,800 metres [9,200 feet]) of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. 8 genera, about 35 species.

    • Family Bathylutichthyidae

      Body naked; 1 pair of long barbells at corner of mouth; pelvic fin with 3 soft rays; all fin rays unbranched; vertebrae 49. 1 species, Bathylutichthys taranetzi, of uncertain phylogenetic position.

    • Family Agonidae (poachers and pogges)

      Body covered in hard armour of large scutes. 1 or 2 dorsal fins. Teeth minute. Size to 30 cm (12 inches). Small, benthic, coastal fishes of northern Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans and Antarctic waters. About 22 genera, 47 species. Eocene to present.

    • Family Cyclopteridae (lumpsuckers and sea snails)

      Body short, thick, tadpole-shaped. Skin thick, naked or with bony tubercles or small thorns. 2 dorsal fins, the first often minute or modified. Pelvic fins modified into a sucker disk or absent. Size to 60 cm (24 inches); 5.5 kg (12 pounds). Marine, from littoral to abyssal depths (4,000 metres [13,100 feet]) in northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Arctic and Antarctic waters. 6 genera with about 28 species.

    • Family Rhamphocottidae (grunt sculpin)

      Pelvis highly modified with an anteriorly projecting subpelvic keel and an anterodorsally projecting suprapelvic keel; vertebrae 26–28. Marine, North Pacific. 1 species, Rhamphocottus richardsonii.

    • Family Ereuniidae

      4 lower pectoral fin rays free (as in family Triglidae); vertebrae 35–39. Maximum length 30 cm (12 inches). Marine, deepwater, western North Pacific. 2 genera with 3 species.

    • Family Abyssocottidae

      Postcleithra reduced or absent; pelvic fin with 1 spine and 2–4 soft rays; vertebrae 30–37. Freshwater, Siberia. 6 genera with 22 species.

    • Family Hemitripteridae

      Marine. Northwestern Atlantic and North Pacific. 3 genera with 8 species.