Percopsiformes Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Northern cavefish | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Superorder: | Paracanthopterygii |
Order: | Percopsiformes L. S. Berg, 1940 |
Type species | |
Percopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum, 1792)
| |
Families | |
Amblyopsidae (cavefishes) | |
Synonyms | |
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The Percopsiformes /pɜːrˈkɒpsɪfɔːrmiːz/ are a small order of freshwater teleost fishes measuring less than 20 cm in length, comprising the trout-perch and its allies.[2]: 319 It contains just ten extant species, grouped into seven genera and three families. Five of these genera are monotypic.[3]
They are generally small fish, ranging from 5 to 20 cm (2.0 to 7.9 in) in adult body length. They inhabit freshwater habitats in North America. They are grouped together because of technical characteristics of their internal anatomy, and the different species may appear quite different externally.[4]