Order Summary for Beloniformes

  Main Ref
:
  Order
:
Beloniformes needle fishes
  Class
:
Teleostei
  Sister Order
:
Cyprinodontiformes 45 M years
  Ref.
:
  First Fossil Record
:
early Tertiary
  Occurs in
:
Marine
Fresh
Brackish
  Remark
:
Interarcual cartilage (connects the epibranchial bone of the first gill arch with the infrapharyngobranchial of the second gill arch) small or absent; small second and third epibranchials; interhyal absent; lower caudal fin lobe with more principal rays than the upper lobe. Presence of a fixed or nonprotrusible upper jaw.
  Class etymology
:
Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335.
  Order etymology
:
Greek, belone = needle + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335).
  Families
:

Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]                       
Glossary
                    [ e.g. cephalopods]

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