Driftfish

Driftfishes
Bluefin driftfish, Psenes pellucidus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Nomeidae
Genera
Cubiceps Nomeus Parapsenes Psenes See text for species.

Driftfishes are perciform fishes in the family Nomeidae. They are found in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world.

The largest species, such as the Cape fathead, Cubiceps capensis, reach one metre in length.

Several species are found in association with siphonophores such as the Portuguese man of war; the man-of-war fish, Nomeus gronovii, is known to eat its tentacles and gonads, as well as feeding on other jellyfishes. Other species of driftfishes are associated with the floating seaweed Sargassum. The Cape fathead feeds mainly on salps. Some species of Cubiceps are occasionally caught on pelagic longlines set for swordfish.

Species

There are 18 species in four genera:

• Genus Cubiceps
  • Black fathead, Cubiceps baxteri McCulloch, 1923.
  • Blue fathead, Cubiceps caeruleus Regan, 1914.
  • Cape fathead, Cubiceps capensis (Smith, 1845).
  • Driftfish, Cubiceps gracilis (Lowe, 1843).
  • Cubiceps kotlyari Agafonova, 1988.
  • Large-scale cigarfish, Cubiceps macrolepis Agafonova, 1988.
  • Dwarf cigarfish, Cubiceps nanus Agafonova, 1988.
  • Longfin cigarfish, Cubiceps paradoxus Butler, 1979.
  • Longfin fathead, Cubiceps pauciradiatus Günther, 1872.
  • Indian driftfish, Cubiceps squamiceps (Lloyd, 1909).
• Genus Nomeus
  • Man-of-war fish, Nomeus gronovii (Gmelin, 1789).
    

    Man-of-war fish, Nomeus gronovii
• Genus Parapsenes
  • Round psen, Parapsenes rotundus (Smith, 1949).
• Genus Psenes
  • Banded driftfish, Psenes arafurensis Günther, 1889.
  • Freckled driftfish, Psenes cyanophrys Valenciennes, 1833.
  • Silver driftfish, Psenes maculatus (Valenciennes, 1836).
    

    Silver driftfish, Psenes maculatus
  • Bluefin driftfish, Psenes pellucidus Lütken, 1880.
  • Twospine driftfish, Psenes sio Haedrich, 1970.
  • Shadow driftfish, Psenes whiteleggii Waite, 1894.

Timeline of genera

References

• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Nomeidae" in FishBase. February 2006 version.
• Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2011-05-19.