Order Summary for Scorpaeniformes
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Main Ref |
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Order |
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Scorpaeniformes scorpionfishes and flatheads |
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Class |
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Teleostei |
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Sister Order |
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Perciformes 15 M years |
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Ref. |
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First Fossil Record |
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late Tertiary |
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Occurs in |
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Marine |
Fresh |
Brackish |
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Remark |
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Contains the "mail-cheeked" fishes, distinguished by the suborbital stay, a posterior extension of the third infraorbital bone (counting the lachrymal), which extends across the cheek to the preoperculum and is usually firmly attached to that bone. Head and body tend to be spiny or have bony plates; pectoral fin usually rounded, membranes between lower rays often incised; caudal fin usually rounded (occasionally truncate, rarely forked). |
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Class etymology |
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Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335. |
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Order etymology |
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Greek, skorpaina, scorpene, 1706. It is a diminutive of Greek, skorpios, "scorpion" + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335). However, the name 'could be Latin in origin ('scrofa') meaning sow, probably because of its plumpness (P.Adamicka, pers.comm. 08/09). |
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Families |
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Converted to PHP by Kit 06.10.09 |