Ostracioidei

Belongs within: Tetraodontiformes.

The Ostracioidei are marine fishes that have the body almost entirely encased in a rigid carapace of enlarged scale plates (Matsuura 2015).

Characters (from Matsuura 2015): Body almost completely encased in bony shell or carapace formed of enlarged, thickened scale plates, usually hexagonal in shape and firmly sutured to one another; carapace with openings for mouth, eyes, gill slit, pectoral, dorsal, and anal fins, and for flexible caudal peduncle; scale plates often with surface granulations, may be prolonged into prominent carapace spines over eyes or along ventrolateral or dorsolateral angles of body; mouth small, terminal, with fleshy lips; teeth of moderate size, conical, usually fewer than 15 in each jaw; gill opening moderately short, vertical to oblique slit in front of pectoral-fin base; spinous dorsal fin absent; most dorsal-, anal-, and pectoral-fin rays branched; caudal fin with eight or nine branched rays; pelvic fins absent.

<==Ostracioidei [Ostracioidea]B-RB13
    |--AracanidaeB-RB13
    |    |--Proaracana dubia (de Blainville 1818)P93
    |    |--Caprichthys McCulloch & Waite 1915M15
    |    |    `--C. gymnura McCulloch & Waite 1915M15
    |    |--Capropygia Kaup 1855M15
    |    |    `--C. unistriata (Kaup 1855)M15
    |    |--Polyplacapros Fuji & Uyeno 1979M15
    |    |    `--P. tyleri Fujii & Uyeno 1979M15
    |    |--Aracana Gray 1833 [=Acarana, Acerana]M15
    |    |    |--A. aurita (Shaw in Shaw & Nodder 1798) (see below for synonymy)M15
    |    |    |--A. ornata (Gray 1838) [=Ostracion (Aracana) ornata; incl. O. (A.) flavigaster Gray 1838]M15
    |    |    `--A. reevesiiR41
    |    |--Anoplocapros Kaup 1855M15
    |    |    |--A. amygdaloides Fraser-Brunner 1941M15
    |    |    |--A. inermis (Fraser-Brunner 1935)M15
    |    |    |--A. lenticularis (Richardson 1841)M15
    |    |    `--A. robustus (Fraser-Brunner 1941)H90
    |    |--Kentrocapros Kaup 1855M15
    |    |    |--K. aculeatus (Houttuyn 1782)M15
    |    |    |--K. eco (Phillipps 1932) [=Ostracion eco]M15
    |    |    |--K. flavofasciatus (Kamohara 1938)M15
    |    |    |--K. rosapinto (Smith 1949)M15
    |    |    `--K. spilonota (Gilbert 1905)M15
    |    `--Strophiurichthys Fraser-Brunner 1935M15
    |         `--S. robustus Fraser-Brunner 1841M58
    `--OstraciidaeM15
         |--Eolactoria sorbinii Tyler 1975P93
         |--Rhinesomus Swainson 1839M15
         |    `--R. reipublicaeG75
         |--Lactoria Jordan & Fowler 1902M15
         |    |--L. cornuta (Linnaeus 1758)M15 [=Ostracion cornutusM58; incl. O. (Acanthostracion) arcus Bleeker 1865M58]
         |    |--L. diaphana (Bloch & Schneider 1801)M15 [=Ostracion diaphanaM58]
         |    `--L. fornasini (Bianconi 1846)M15
         |--Tetrosomus Swainson 1839 [incl. Triorus Jordan & Hubbs 1925]M15
         |    |--T. concatenatus (Bloch 1785) [incl. Lactophrys tritropis Snyder 1911, *Triorus tritropis]M15
         |    |--T. gibbosus (Linnaeus 1758)M15
         |    `--T. reipublicae (Ogilby 1913)M15 [=Lactophrys reipublicaeM58, Triorus reipublicaeM58]
         |--Acanthostracion Bleeker 1865M15
         |    |--A. guineensis Bleeker 1865M15
         |    |--A. notacanthus Bleeker 1863M15
         |    |--A. polygonus Poey 1876M15
         |    `--A. quadricornis (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. A. bucephalus Whitley 1965]M15
         |--Lactophrys Swainson 1839M15
         |    |--L. bicaudalis (Linnaeus 1758) [=Rhinesomus bicaudalis]M15
         |    |--L. tricornisF16
         |    |--L. trigonus (Linnaeus 1758)M15
         |    `--L. triqueter (Linnaeus 1758)M15 [=Ostracion triqueterF16, Rhinesomus triqueterM15]
         `--Ostracion Linnaeus 1758 [incl. Rhynchostracion Fraser-Brunner 1935]M15
              |--O. bicaudalis Linnaeus 1758L58
              |--O. cubicus Linnaeus 1758M15
              |--O. cyanurus Rüppell 1828M15
              |--O. gibbosus Linnaeus 1758L58
              |--O. immaculatus Temminck & Schlegel 1850M15
              |--O. lenticularis Richardson 1841R41
              |--O. lentiginosus Schneider 1801 [incl. O. punctatus Bleeker 1861, O. sebae Bleeker 1859]M58
              |--O. meleagris Shaw in Shaw & Nodder 1796M15
              |--O. meretrix Daimeries 1891P93
              |--O. nasus (Bloch 1785) [=*Rhynchostracion nasus]M15
              |--O. quadricornis Linnaeus 1758L58
              |--O. rhinorhynchos Bleeker 1851 [=Rhynchostracion rhinorhynchos]M15
              |--O. solorensis Bleeker 1853M15
              |--O. trachys Randall 1975M15
              |--O. tricornis Linnaeus 1758L58
              |--O. trigonus Linnaeus 1758L58
              |--O. tuberculatus Linnaeus 1758 [incl. O. pulul Thiollière 1857]M58
              |--O. turritusH04
              `--O. whitleyi Fowler 1931M15

Aracana aurita (Shaw in Shaw & Nodder 1798) [=Ostracion (Acarana) auritus; incl. O. (Aracana) lineata Gray 1838]^M15

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[B-RB13] Betancur-R., R., R. E. Broughton, E. O. Wiley, K. Carpenter, A. López, C. Li, N. I. Holcroft, D. Arcila, M. Sanciangco, J. C. Cureton, II, F. Zhang, T. Buser, M. A. Campbell, J. A. Ballesteros, A. Roa-Varon, S. Willis, W. C. Borden, T. Rowley, P. C. Reneau, D. J. Hough, G. Lu, T. Grande, G. Arratia & G. Ortí. 2013. The tree of life and a new classification of bony fishes. PLoS Currents Tree of Life April 18 2013. doi: 10.1371/currents.tol.53ba26640df0ccaee75bb165c8c26288.

[F16] Fowler, H. W. 1916. The fishes of Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Lucia, British West Indies. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (3): 520–548.

[G75] Grant, E. M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. The Co-ordinator-General’s Department: Brisbane (Australia).

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[H90] Hutchins, J. B. 1990. Fish survey of South Passage, Shark Bay, Western Australia. In: Berry, P. F., S. D. Bradshaw & B. R. Wilson (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee pp. 263–278. Western Australian Museum.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[M15] Matsuura, K. 2015. Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. Ichthyological Research 62 (1): 72–113.

[M58] Munro, I. S. R. 1958. The fishes of the New Guinea region: A check-list of the fishes of New Guinea incorporating records of species collected by the Fisheries Survey Vessel “Fairwind” during the years 1948 to 1950. Papua and New Guinea Agricultural Journal 10 (4): 97–369 (reprinted: 1958. Territory of Papua and New Guinea Fisheries Bulletin no. 1).

[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.

[R41] Richardson, J. 1841. On some new or little known fishes from the Australian seas. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 9: 21–22.