Cusk-eel
| Cusk-eel Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Pudgy cusk-eel (Spectrunculus grandis) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Ophidiiformes |
| Suborder: | Ophidioidei |
| Family: | Ophidiidae Rafinesque, 1810 |
| Subfamilies | |
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See text | |
The cusk-eel family, Ophidiidae, is a group of marine bony fishes in the Ophidiiformes order. The scientific name is from the Greek ophis meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance. True eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses, and others.
The oldest fossil cusk-eel is Ampheristus, a highly successful genus with numerous species that existed from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) to the early Oligocene.