Mullet (fish)

The mullets or grey mullets are a family (Mugilidae) of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and some species in fresh water.[1] Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since Roman times. The family includes about 78 species in 20 genera.[2]

Mullet
Mugil cephalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
(unranked): Acanthomorpha
Superorder: Acanthopterygii
Clade: Percomorpha
(unranked): Ovalentaria
Order: Mugiliformes
Family: Mugilidae
Jarocki, 1822
Type species
Mugil cephalus
Linnaeus, 1758
Genera

See text.

Mullets are distinguished by the presence of two separate dorsal fins, small triangular mouths, and the absence of a lateral line organ. They feed on detritus, and most species have unusually muscular stomachs and a complex pharynx to help in digestion.[1]

Classification and naming
Mugil cephalus
Thick lips of a mullet
Mullets in the Mediterranean Sea

Taxonomically, the family is currently treated as the sole member of the order Mugiliformes, but as Nelson says, "there has been much disagreement concerning the relationships" of this family.[3] The presence of fin spines clearly indicates membership in the superorder Acanthopterygii, and in the 1960s, they were classed as primitive perciforms,[4] while others have grouped them in Atheriniformes.[5] They are classified as an order, Mugiliformes, within the subseries Ovalentaria of the clade Percomorpha in the 5th Edition of Fishes of the World.[6]

In North America, "mullet" by itself usually refers to Mugilidae. In Europe, the word "mullet" is usually qualified, the "grey mullets" being Mugilidae and the "red mullets" or "surmullets" being Mullidae, notably members of the genus Mullus.[7] Outside Europe, the Mullidae are often called "goatfish".[8] Fish with common names including the word "mullet" may be a member of one family or the other, or even unrelated such as the freshwater white sucker (Catostomus commersonii).[9]

However, recent taxonomic work has reorganised the family and the following genera make up the Mugilidae:[10][11]

  • Agonostomus Bennett, 1832
  • Aldrichetta Whitley, 1945
  • Cestraeus Valenciennes, 1836
  • Chaenomugil Gill, 1863
  • Chelon Artedi, 1763
  • Crenimugil Schultz, 1946
  • Dajaus Valenciennes, 1836
  • Ellochelon Whitley, 1930
  • Gracilimugil Whitley, 1941
  • Joturus Poey, 1860
  • Minimugil Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa, 2012
  • Mugil Linnaeus, 1758
  • Myxus Günther, 1861
  • Neomyxus Steindachner, 1878
  • Neochelon Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012
  • Oedalechilus Fowler 1903
  • Osteomugil G. Luther, 1982
  • Parachelon Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012
  • Paramugil Ghasemzadeh, Ivantsoff & Aarn 2004
  • Planiliza Whitley, 1945
  • Plicomugil Schultz, 1953
  • Pseudomyxus Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012
  • Rhinomugil Gill, 1863
  • Sicamugil Fowler, 1939
  • Squalomugil Ogilby, 1908
  • Trachystoma Ogilby, 1888

Behaviour

A common noticeable behaviour in mullet is the tendency to leap out of the water. There are two distinguishable types of leaps: a straight, clean slice out of the water to escape predators and a slower, lower jump while turning to its side that results in a larger, more distinguishable, splash. The reasons for this lower jump are disputed, but have been hypothesised to be in order to gain oxygen rich air for gas exchange in a small organ above the pharynx.[12]

Development

The ontogeny of mugilid larvae has been well studied, with the larval development of Mugil cephalus in particular being studied intensively due to its wide range of distribution and interest to aquaculture.[13] The previously understudied osteological development of Mugil cephalus was investigated in a 2021 study, with four embryonic and six larval developmental steps being described in aquaculture-reared and wild-caught specimens.[13] These descriptions provided clarification of questionable characters of adult mullets and revealed informative details with potential implications for phylogenetic hypotheses, as well as providing an overdue basis of comparison for aquaculture-reared mullets to enable recognition of malformations.[13]

Timeline
NeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneEocenePaleoceneNeogenePaleogeneHolocenePleist.MioceneEocenePaleocene

References
  1. Johnson, G.D. & Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-12-547665-2.
  2. "Family Mugilidae - Mullets". Fishbase. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  3. "Fishes of the World, 4th Edition". Wiley. Archived from the original on 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  4. Gosline, W. A. (1961) "The Perciform Caudal Skeleton" Copeia 1961(3): pp. 265-270
  5. O.H. Oren (1981). Aquaculture of Grey Mullets. CUP Archive. p. 2. ISBN 9780521229265.
  6. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 752. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
  7. "Mullet species". britishseafishing.co.uk. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  8. "Goatfish". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  9. "Common names of Catostomus commersonii". Fishbase. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  10. Jean-Dominique Durand; Wei-Jen Chen; Kang-Ning Shen; Cuizhang Fue; Philippe Borsaf (2012). "Genus-level taxonomic changes implied by the mitochondrial phylogeny of grey mullets (Teleostei: Mugilidae) (abstract)" (PDF). Comptes Rendus Biologies. 335 (10&11): 687–697. doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2012.09.005. PMID 23199637.
  11. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2021). "Mugilidae" in FishBase. February 2021 version.
  12. Hoese, Hinton D. (1985). "Jumping mullet — the internal diving bell hypothesis". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 13 (4): 309–314. doi:10.1007/BF00002915. S2CID 35924254. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  13. Thieme, Philipp; Vallainc, Dario; Moritz, Timo (2021). "Postcranial skeletal development of Mugil cephalus (Teleostei: Mugiliformes): morphological and life-history implications for Mugiliformes". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (4): 1071–1089. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa123.

Further references
  • J.S. Nelson, Fishes of the World. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
  • Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2012). "Mugilidae" in FishBase. June 2012 version.
  • Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 364: 560. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
  • Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Mugilidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Mullet (fish)".
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