English: Fawn cusk-eel, Cusk-eels, Pearlfishes, Brotulas.
Clades:
Ophidiiformes;
Percomorpha.
ZoologyFish; slender bodies; small heads; scales either smooth or none
Fins: long dorsal, anal fin united with the caudal fin; pelagic, benthic, and parasitic species.
Reproduction: egg-laying; some are viviparous.
Size: 5 cm to 2 metres long.
Food: range of feeding methods and lifestyles, including parasitism.
Habitat: some deep-sea, down to 8370 metres; others in shallow water, especially near coral reefs; few inhabit freshwater; tropical or subtropical habitats, some far north coast of Greenland, and as far south as the Weddell Sea.
TaxonomyOphidioidei may be paraphyletic. Bythitoidei are monophyletic.
Ranicipitidae and Euclichthyidae were formerly classified in this order, but are now preferred in
Gadiformes.
FamiliesOphidioidei: oviparous
◦ Carapidae: Pearlfishes
◦ Ophidiidae: Cusk-eels
Bythitoidei: viviparous
◦ Bythitidae: iviparous brotulas
◦ Aphyonidae: Aphyonids, blind cusk-eel
◦ Parabrotulidae: False brotulas