Spikefish

{{Short description|Family of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Spikefishes | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Oligocene|Recent}} | image = Jambeau ( Parahollardia lineata ).jpg | image_caption = ''Parahollardia lineata'' | taxon = Triacanthodidae | authority = T. N. Gill, 1862 | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies and genera <ref name="Matsuura2014">{{cite journal |last=Matsuura |first=K. |year=2014 |title=Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. |journal=Ichthyological Research |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=72–113 |doi=10.1007/s10228-014-0444-5|doi-access=free |bibcode=2015IchtR..62...72M }}</ref> | subdivision = see text }}

The '''spikefishes''' (family '''Triacanthodidae''') are ray-finned fishes related to the pufferfishes and triggerfishes. They live in deep waters; more than 50 meters (165 feet), but above the continental shelves. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the west-central Pacific.<ref name=EoF>{{cite book |editor-last1=Paxton |editor-first1=J.R. |editor-last2=Eschmeyer |editor-first2=W.N.|last1= Matsuura |first1=K. |last2=Tyler |first2=J.C. |year=1998 |title=Encyclopedia of Fishes|publisher= Academic Press|location=San Diego|pages= 227–228|isbn= 0-12-547665-5}}</ref>

The spikefishes are quite variable in form, with some species having tubular snouts (greatly elongated in ''Halimochirurgus'' and ''Macrorhamphosodes''), and others have spoon-like teeth for scraping the scales off other fishes. Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a maximum length of about {{convert|5|-|22|cm|in}}.

While spikefish are shaped in a wide variety of different colors, sizes, and shapes, they can characterized by their similarities of having a dense body with relatively thick skin, a large amount of tiny yet spiky scales, two dorsal fins of which the first contains six spines and twelve to eighteen soft spines along the second, a rounded caudal fin, small and terminal mouth with at least 10 average sized conical teeth.

==Taxonomy== The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, was first proposed in 1862 by the American biologist Theodore Gill<ref name = VDLEF>{{cite journal | author1 = Richard van der Laan | author2 = William N. Eschmeyer | author3 = Ronald Fricke | name-list-style = amp |year=2014 | title = Family-group names of recent fishes | url = https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3882.1.1/10480 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 3882 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–230| doi = 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 | pmid = 25543675 | doi-access = free }}</ref> and, in 1968, James C. Tyler classified it within the suborder Triacanthoidei alongside the Triacanthidae, as well as proposing the subfamily Hollardinae.<ref name="SantiniTyler2003">{{cite journal |author=Franceso Santini|author2=James C. Tyler |title=A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=139 |issue=4 |year=2003 |pages=565–617 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2003.00088.x}}</ref> The 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' classifies this as suborder of the order Tetraodontiformes.<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite book |author1=Nelson, J.S. |author1-link=Joseph S. Nelson |author2=Grande, T.C. |author3=Wilson, M.V.H. |year=2016 |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |place=Hoboken, NJ |pages=518–526 |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |lccn=2015037522 |oclc=951899884 |ol=25909650M |doi=10.1002/9781119174844}}</ref>

==Subfamiles and genera== The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, is divided into two subfamilies and eleven genera as follows:<ref name = CofF>{{Cof family|family=Triacanthodidae|access-date=27 August 2024}}</ref> * Subfamily Hollardiinae Tyler, 1968 ** Genus ''Hollardia'' Poey, 1861 ** Genus ''Parahollardia'' Fraser-Brunner, 1941 ** Genus †''Prohollardia'' Tyler, 1993 (fossil; Oligocene)<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Tyler |first1=James C. |last2=Jerzmanska |first2=Anna |last3=Bannikov |first3=Alexandre F. |last4=Swidnicki |first4=Jacek |date=1993 |title=Two New Genera and Species of Oligocene Spikefishes (Tetraodontiformes: Triacanthodidae), the First Fossils of the Hollardiinae and Triacanthodinae |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/1994 |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology |issue=75 |pages=1–27 |doi=10.5479/si.00810266.75.1 |hdl=10088/1994 |language=en-US |issn=0081-0266}}</ref> * Subfamily Triacanthodinae Gill, 1862 ** Genus ''Atrophacanthus'' Fraser-Brunner, 1950 ** Genus ''Bathyphylax'' Myers 1934 ** Genus †''Carpathospinosus'' Tyler, 1993 (fossil; Oligocene)<ref name=":0" /> ** Genus ''Halimochirurgus'' Alcock, 1899 ** Genus ''Johnsonina'' Myers, 1934 ** Genus ''Macrorhamphosodes'' Fowler, 1934 ** Genus ''Mephisto'' Tyler, 1966 ** Genus ''Paratriacanthodes'' Fowler, 1934 ** Genus ''Triacanthodes'' Bleeker, 1857 ** Genus ''Tydemania'' Weber, 1913

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{Wikispecies-inline|Triacanthodidae}}

Category:Triacanthodidae Category:Taxa named by Theodore Gill Category:Triacanthoidei