Paralichthyidae
Family of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Large-tooth flounders or sand flounders are a family, Paralichthyidae, of flounders.[1][2] The family contains 14 genera with a total of about 110 species. They lie on the sea bed on their right side; both eyes are always on the left side of the head, while the Pleuronectidae usually (but not always) have their eyes on the right side of the head.[3]
| Large-tooth flounders Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| |
| Summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Carangiformes |
| Suborder: | Pleuronectoidei |
| Family: | Paralichthyidae Regan, 1910 |
| Type genus | |
| Paralichthys Girard, 1858 | |
| Genera[1] | |
|
See text | |
They are found in temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.[4] Several species are important commercial and game fishes, notably the California halibut, Paralichthys californicus.
Taxonomy
The following genera are placed in this family:[5]
- Ancylopsetta
- Cephalopsetta
- Gastropsetta
- Hippoglossina
- Paralichthys
- Pseudorhombus
- Tarphops
- Tephrinectes
- Thysanopsetta
- Xystreurys
One extinct fossil genus is known in †Evesthes from the Late Miocene of California, USA.[6]
Phylogenetic analyses have long indicated the non-monophyly of this family,[7] and two lineages have been consistently apparent. Termed groups, the two groups were named after genera: a Cyclopsetta group and a Pseudorhombus group.[8] The "Cyclopsetta group" was formally described as Cyclopsettidae in 2019, consisting of four genera: Cyclopsetta, Etropus, Citharichthys, and Syacium.[8] Molecular phylogenetic evidence indicates that Paralichthyidae in this sense is sister to Pleuronectidae and Cyclopsettidae is sister to Bothidae.[9]
