Order Summary for Elopiformes

  Main Ref
:
  Order
:
Elopiformes tarpons and tenpounders
  Class
:
Teleostei
  Sister Order
:
Albuliformes 140 M years
  Ref.
:
  First Fossil Record
:
early Cretaceous
  Occurs in
:
Marine
Fresh
Brackish
  Remark
:
Pelvic fins abdominal; body slender, usually compressed; gill openings wide; caudal fin deeply forked; caudal fin with seven hypurals; scales cycloid; mesocoracoid and postcleithra present; gular plate well developed (median); branchiostegal rays 23-35; mouth bordered by premaxilla and toothed maxilla; upper jaw extending past eye; tip of snout not overhanging mouth (mouth terminal or superior); no sensory canal extending onto the small premaxilla. Leptocephali small, maximum length about 5 cm, with a well-developed, forked, caudal fin, a posterior dorsal fin (pelvic fins in older larvae), and about 53-86 myomeres.
  Class etymology
:
Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335.
  Order etymology
:
Greek, ellops = a kind of serpent + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335).
  Families
:
( n = 2 ) -
Elopidae Megalopidae

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

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