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Dactylopteridae

Encyclopedia of Life · EOL (see source)

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Dactylopteridae

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The flying gurnards are a family, Dactylopteridae, of marine fish notable for their greatly enlarged pectoral fins. As they cannot literally fly or glide in the air (like flying fish), an alternative name preferred by some authors is helmet gurnards. They have been regarded as the only family in the suborder Dactylopteroidei of the Scorpaeniformes. However, more recent molecular classifications put them in the order Syngnathiformes, in the superfamily Centriscoidea.

Species

flying gurnards

FAMILY

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassTeleostei
  4. OrderScorpaeniformes
  5. FamilyDactylopteridae
Habitatmarine, brackish
Observations recorded13,824

飛角魚科是輻鰭魚綱鮋形目的其中一科。

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
264
Family
Dactylopteridae
Collections
USNM, CAS, NMV, MSUM, MNHN, AM
Recorded in
United States, Philippines, Australia, Japan, Polynesie, French Polynesia, Vietnam, Canada

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Image
Flughahn.jpg
Show 6 more facts
Commons category
Dactylopteridae
taxon rank
family
taxon name
Dactylopteridae
topic's main category
Category:Dactylopteridae
taxon common name
flygeknurrfamilien
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

The flying gurnards are a family, Dactylopteridae, of marine fish notable for their greatly enlarged pectoral fins. As they cannot literally fly or glide in the air (like flying fish), an alternative name preferred by some authors is helmet gurnards. They have been regarded as the only family in the suborder Dactylopteroidei of the Scorpaeniformes. However, more recent molecular classifications put them in the order Syngnathiformes, in the superfamily Centriscoidea.

They have been observed to "walk" along sandy sea floors while looking for crustaceans, other small invertebrates and small fish by using their pelvic fins. Like the true gurnards (sea robins), to which they may be related, they possess a swim bladder with two lobes and a "drumming muscle" that can beat against the swim bladder to produce sounds. They have heavy, protective scales and the undersides of their huge pectoral fins are brightly coloured, perhaps to startle predators.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dactylopteridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.