6-481: See text. The mojarras are a family, Gerreidae , of fish in the order Perciformes . The family includes about 53 species found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate regions. They mostly inhabit coastal salt and brackish waters, although some occur in fresh water. Mojarras are a common prey and bait fish in many parts of the world, including the South American coast and Caribbean islands as well as
12-577: A name for various species of the cichlid family, including tilapia . The ten genera currently assigned to this family are: Perciformes See text Perciformes ( / ˈ p ɜːr s ɪ ˌ f ɔːr m iː z / ), also called the Acanthopteri , is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha . Perciformes means " perch -like". Among the well-known members of this group are perch and darters ( Percidae ), sea bass and groupers ( Serranidae ). Formerly, this group
18-883: The Scorpaeniformes , are now classified in the Perciformes. The earliest fossil perciform is the extinct serranid Paleoserranus from the Early Paleocene of Mexico , but potential records of "percoids" are known from the Maastrichtian , including Eoserranus , Indiaichthys , and Prolates , although their exact taxonomic identity remains uncertain. The dorsal and anal fins are divided into anterior spiny and posterior soft-rayed portions, which may be partially or completely separated. The pelvic fins usually have one spine and up to five soft rays, positioned unusually far forward under
24-591: The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast of North America. These species tend to be difficult to identify in the field and often require microscopic examination. Most species exhibit a schooling behavior and tend to exploit the shallow water refugia associated with coastal areas presumably to avoid large-bodied predators , such as the lemon shark . Mojarra is also commonly used in Latin American countries as
30-465: The chin or under the belly. Scales are usually ctenoid (rough to the touch), although sometimes they are cycloid (smooth to the touch) or otherwise modified. Classification of this group is controversial. As traditionally defined before the introduction of cladistics , the Perciformes are almost certainly paraphyletic . Other orders that should possibly be included as suborders are the Scorpaeniformes , Tetraodontiformes , and Pleuronectiformes . Of
36-457: Was thought to be even more diverse than it is thought to be now, containing about 41% of all bony fish (about 10,000 species) and about 160 families, which is the most of any order within the vertebrates. However, many of these other families have since been reclassified within their own orders within the clade Percomorpha, significantly reducing the size of the group. In contrast to this splitting, other groups formerly considered distinct, such as
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