Clupeiformes facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Clupeiformes Temporal range: Late Jurassic to present
Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Infraclass:	Teleostei
Superorder:	Clupeomorpha
Order:	Clupeiformes Goodrich, 1909
Type species
Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1758
Families
See text

Clupeiformes is the order of ray-finned fish that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae. The group includes many of the most important forage and food fish.

Clupeiformes are physostomes, which means that their gas bladder has a pneumatic duct connecting it to the gut. They typically lack a lateral line, but still have the eyes, fins and scales that are common to most fish, though not all fish have these attributes. They are generally silvery fish with streamlined, spindle-shaped, bodies, and they often school. Most species eat plankton which they filter from the water with their gill rakers.

The former order of Isospondyli was subsumed mostly by Clupeiformes, but some isospondylous fishes (isospondyls) were assigned to Osteoglossiformes, Salmoniformes, Cetomimiformes, etc.

Families

The order includes about 405 species in seven families:

• Order Clupeiformes
  • Suborder Denticipitoidei
    • Family Denticipitidae (denticle herring)
  • Suborder Clupeoidei
    • Family Engraulidae (anchovies)
      • Subfamily Coiliinae
      • Subfamily Engraulinae
    • Family Spratelloididae
    • Family Pristigasteridae (longfin herrings)
      • Subfamily Pristigasterinae
      • Subfamily Pelloninae
    • Family Chirocentridae (wolf herrings)
    • Family Dussumieriidae s.s. (round herrings)
    • Family Clupeidae [incl. Sundasalangidae) (herrings, sardines, shads, and menhadens)
      • Subfamily Clupeinae
      • Subfamily Ehiravinae
      • Subfamily Alosinae
      • Subfamily Dorosomatinae

Timeline of genera

See also

In Spanish: Clupeiformes para niños