Driftfish

Nomeidae, the driftfishes, are a family of percomorph fishes found in tropical and subtropical waters throughout the world. The family includes about 16 species. The largest species, such as the Cape fathead, Cubiceps capensis, reach 1 m in length.

Driftfishes
Bluefin driftfish, Psenes pellucidus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scombriformes
Suborder: Stromateoidei
Family: Nomeidae
Günther, 1860
Genera[1]

Several species are found in association with siphonophores (which are colonies of tiny individual animals that have specialised functions which resemble jellyfish) such as the Portuguese man o' war; the man-of-war fish, Nomeus gronovii, is known to eat its tentacles and gonads, as well as feeding on other jellyfishes. Other species of driftfishes are associated with the floating seaweed Sargassum. The Cape fathead feeds mainly on salps. Some species of Cubiceps are occasionally caught on pelagic longlines set for swordfish.

Man-of-war fish, Nomeus gronovii
Silver driftfish, Psenes maculatus

Timeline of genera
QuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleoceneCubicepsPsenesQuaternaryNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneOligoceneEocenePaleocene

References
  1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2014). "Nomeidae" in FishBase. February 2014 version.
  • Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
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