{{Short description|Order of ray-finned fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Acanthuriformes | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Paleocene|present}} | image = Corvinas negras (Sciaena umbra), Cabo de Palos, España, 2022-07-14, DD 52.jpg | image_caption = Brown meagre (''Sciaena umbra'') | image2 = Ctenochaetus tominiensis.jpg | image2_caption = ''Ctenochaetus tominiensis'' | authority = Jordan, 1923<ref name = Taxonomicon>{{cite web |url= http://taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/TaxonTree.aspx?id=201898&src=7229|title= Taxon: Order Acanthuriformes Jordan, 1923|access-date=24 December 2020|website=The Taxonomicon}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Families | subdivision = See text | synonyms = * Chaetodontiformes * Caproiformes * Ephippiformes * Lobotiformes * Lutjaniformes * Moroniformes * Priacanthiformes * Spariformes | type_species = Acanthurus triostegus | type_species_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) }}
'''Acanthuriformes''' is a large, diverse order of mostly marine ray-finned fishes, part of the Percomorpha clade. In the past, members of this clade were placed in the suborders Acanthuroidea and Percoidea of the order Perciformes, but this treatment is now considered paraphyletic.
This order contains many of the iconic tropical reef fish groups, such as surgeonfish, marine angelfish, butterflyfish, rabbitfish, grunts, and snappers. It also contains widespread, economically important food and sport fishes, such as drums, temperate basses, and porgies.<ref name=":1">{{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}}</ref> The only pelagic member of the group is the louvar.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arostegui |first=Martin C. |last2=Shero |first2=Michelle R. |last3=Frank |first3=Lawrence R. |last4=Berquist |first4=Rachel M. |last5=Braun |first5=Camrin D. |date=2023 |title=An enigmatic pelagic fish with internalized red muscle: A future regional endotherm or forever an ectotherm? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jfb.15375 |journal=Journal of Fish Biology |language=en |volume=102 |issue=6 |pages=1311–1326 |doi=10.1111/jfb.15375 |issn=1095-8649|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
== Etymology == The name comes from Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (''ákantha''), meaning "spine", οὐρά (''ourá''), and Latin ''formes'', meaning "form".
== Classification == The following classification is based on Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (2025):<ref name=":1" /><ref name = Nelson5>{{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=497–502 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2020-12-24 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Order '''Acanthuriformes''' ** Family Gerreidae <small>Bleeker</small><small>,</small> <small>1859</small> (mojarras) ** Family Sillaginidae <small>Richardson, 1846</small> (sillagos) ** Family Moronidae <small>Jordan & Evermann, 1896</small> (temperate basses) ** Family Drepaneidae <small>Gill, 1872</small> (sicklefishes) ** Family Ephippidae <small>Bleeker, 1859</small> (spadefishes & batfishes) ** Family Sciaenidae <small>Cuvier, 1829</small> (croakers & drums) ** Family Dinopercidae <small>Heemstra & Hecht, 1986</small> (cavebasses) ** Family Haemulidae <small>Gill, 1885</small> (grunts) ** Family Lobotidae <small>Gill, 1861</small> (tripletails and tigerperches) ** Family Monodactylidae <small>Jordan & Evermann, 1898</small> (moonies) ** Family Emmelichthyidae <small>Poey, 1867</small> (rovers) ** Family Lutjanidae <small>Gill, 1861</small> (snappers) ** Family Malacanthidae <small>Poey, 1861</small> (tilefishes or sand tilefishes) ** Family Latilidae <small>Gill, 1862</small> (deepwater tilefishes) ** Family Pomacanthidae <small>Jordan & Evermann, 1898</small> (angelfishes) ** Family Chaetodontidae <small>Rafinesque, 1815</small> (butterflyfishes) ** Family Leiognathidae <small>Gill, 1893</small> (ponyfishes or slipmouths) ** Family Luvaridae <small>Gill, 1885</small> (louvar) ** Family Zanclidae <small>Bleeker, 1876</small> (Moorish idols) ** Family Acanthuridae <small>Bonaparte, 1835</small> (surgeonfishes & unicornfishes) ** Family Callanthiidae <small>Ogilby, 1899</small> (splendid perches) ** Family Nemipteridae <small>Regan, 1913</small> (threadfin breams and spinycheeks) ** Family Lethrinidae <small>Bonaparte, 1831</small> (emperor snappers) ** Family Sparidae <small>Rafinesque, 1818</small> (porgys and seabreams) ** Family Siganidae <small>Richardson, 1837</small> (rabbitfishes) ** Family Scatophagidae <small>Gill, 1883</small> (scats) ** Family Cepolidae <small>Rafinesque, 1815</small> (bandfishes) ** Family Priacanthidae <small>Günther, 1859</small> (bigeyes) ** Family Caproidae <small>Bonaparte, 1835</small> (boarfishes) ** Family Antigoniidae <small>Jordan & Evermann, 1898</small> (deepwater boarfishes) In the past, the rovers and drums were included within the suborder Sciaenoidei within the Acanthuriformes. However, this placement causes the group to be paraphyletic. Some authors have resolved this by placing the two families included in that suborder as ''incertae sedis'' in the Eupercaria,<ref name="Deepfin">{{cite journal |author1=Ricardo Betancur-R |author2=Edward O. Wiley |author3=Gloria Arratia |author4=Arturo Acero |author5=Nicolas Bailly |author6=Masaki Miya |author7=Guillaume Lecointre |author8=Guillermo Ortí |display-authors=3 |year=2017 |title=Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=17 |issue=162 |bibcode=2017BMCEE..17..162B |doi=10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 |pmc=5501477 |doi-access=free}}</ref> but others have resolved this by placing even more families within the order, the latter of which is followed by the Catalog of Fishes.<ref name="Nelson5" />
Some authors also lump the Lophiiformes and Tetraodontiformes within this group as the suborders Lophioidei and Tetraodontoidei, because Acanthuriformes is otherwise paraphyletic. However, they are presently retained as distinct orders by taxonomic authorities.<ref name="Near2024">{{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|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Fossil taxa === The following extinct groups are also known:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Laan |first=Richard van der |date=2018-10-11 |title=Family-group names of fossil fishes |url=https://europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/597 |journal=European Journal of Taxonomy |language=en |issue=466 |doi=10.5852/ejt.2018.466 |issn=2118-9773|doi-access=free }}</ref> * Family †Acanthonemidae <small>Bannikov, 1991</small> * Family †Kushlukiidae <small>Daniltshenko</small><small>, 1968</small> * Family †Massalongiidae <small>Tyler & Bannikov, 2005</small> * Family †Sorbinipercidae <small>Tyler</small><small>, 1998</small> * Family †Zorzinichthyidae <small>Tyler & Bannikov</small><small>, 2002</small>
== Phylogeny == Cladogram from Near & Thacker, 2024:<ref name="Near2024" />
{{Clade|style=font-size: 80%; line-height: 80% |label1='''Acanthuriformes''' |1={{Clade sequential |1=Gerreidae |2={{Clade |1=Moronidae |2=Sillaginidae }} |3={{Clade |1=''Drepane'' |2=Ephippidae }} |4={{Clade sequential |1=Sciaenidae |2=Dinopercidae |3=Haemulidae }} |5={{Clade |1=Lobotidae |2=''Monodactylus'' }} |6={{Clade sequential |1=Emmelichthyidae |2=Lutjanidae |3=Malacanthidae }} |7={{Clade |1={{Clade sequential |1=Pomacanthidae |2=Chaetodontidae |3=Leiognathidae }} |2={{Clade |label1=Acanthuroidei |1={{Clade sequential |1={{Clade |label1=pan-luvarids |1={{Clade sequential |1={{Extinct}}''Kushlukia'' |2={{Extinct}}''Avitoluvarus'' |3=''Luvarus imperialis'' }} }} |label2=pan-zanclids |2={{Clade |1={{Extinct}}''Massalongius'' |2=''Zanclus cornutus'' }} |label3=pan-acanthurids |3={{Clade |1={{Clade |1={{Extinct}}''Gazolaichthys'' |2={{Extinct}}''Padvoathurus'' }} |2=Acanthuridae }} }} }} }} |8={{Clade sequential |1=Callanthiidae |2=Nemipteridae |3=Lethrinidae |4=Sparidae }} |9={{Clade |label1=pan-siganids |1={{Clade sequential |1={{Extinct}}''Ruffoichthys'' |2={{Extinct}}''Eosiganus'' |3={{Extinct}}''Siganopygaeus'' |4={{Extinct}}''Protosiganus'' |5=''Siganus'' }} }} |10={{Clade |1={{Clade |1=Cepolidae |2=Priacanthidae }} |2={{Clade |label1=pan-scatophagids |1={{Clade |1={{Clade |1={{Extinct}}''Eoscatophagus'' |2={{Extinct}}''Oligoscatophagus'' }} |2=Scatophagidae }} }} }} |11={{Clade |label1=pan-caproids |1={{Clade |1={{Extinct}}''Caprosimilis'' |2=Caproidae }} }} |12=Lophioidei |13=Tetraodontoidei }} }}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{Actinopterygii}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q60500115}}
Category:Percomorpha Category:Actinopterygii orders Category:Acanthuriformes Category:Taxa named by David Starr Jordan