Nelson, J.S., 1994

Elopiformes tarpons and tenpounders

Teleostei

Albuliformes 140 M years

Forey, P., D. Littlewood, P. Ritchie and A. Meyer, 1996  |  Helfman, G., B. Collette and D. Facey, 1997

early Cretaceous

Marine

Fresh

Brackish

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.

Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335.

Greek, ellops = a kind of serpent + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335).

( n = 2 )
Elopidae Megalopidae

Ref.
[ e.g. 9948 ]      

Glossary
      [ e.g. oophagy ]