Jellynose fishes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Actinopterygii   Order: Ateleopodiformes   Family: Ateleopodidae
Genera
Ateleopus Guentherus Ijimaia Parateleopus See text for species.

The jellynose fishes are a small order (Ateleopodiformes) of ray-finned fish, consisting of a single family (Ateleopodidae) with about a dozen species in four genera.

Jellynoses are deep-water marine fish. Their skeletons are largely cartilage (thus the name), although they are true teleosts, and not at all related to Chondrichthyes. Heads are large, with a bulbous nose, and the (usually) elongated body tapers towards the tail. Their caudal fins are very small, and merged with long anal fins, and the pelvic fins are single rays, except for Guentherus. Dorsal fins tend to be prominent and placed just behind the head. The species have a range of sizes, the longest reaching 2 meters.

They are found in the Caribbean Sea, eastern Atlantic Ocean, and the Indo-Pacific area. Most of the species are poorly-known, but the highfin tadpole fish, Guentherus altivelis, is of potential interest for commercial fishing.

Species

• Genus Ateleopus
  • Ateleopus indicus Alcock, 1891.
    Ateleopus japonicus Bleeker, 1854.
    Ateleopus natalensis Regan, 1921.
    Ateleopus purpureus Tanaka, 1915.
    Ateleopus tanabensis Tanaka, 1918.
• Genus Guentherus
  • Highfin tadpole fish, Guentherus altivela Osório, 1917.
• Genus Ijimaia
  • Ijimaia antillarum Howell Rivero, 1935.
    Ijimaia dofleini Sauter, 1905.
    Ijimaia fowleri Howell Rivero, 1935.
    Loppe's tadpole fish, Ijimaia loppei Roule, 1922.
    Deep water ateleopid fish, Ijimaia plicatellus (Gilbert, 1905).
• Genus Parateleopus
  • Parateleopus microstomus Smith & Radcliffe, 1912.

References

• "Ateleopodidae". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.