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Oplegnathus
| Oplegnathus Temporal range: [1]
| |
|---|---|
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| O. fasciatus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Centrarchiformes |
| Family: | Oplegnathidae Bleeker, 1853[2] |
| Genus: | Oplegnathus J. Richardson, 1840 |
| Type species | |
| Oplegnathus conwaii J. Richardson, 1840[3]
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| Synonyms[4] | |
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Oplegnathus is currently the sole recognized genus in the knifejaw family (Oplegnathidae) of marine centrarchiform ray-finned fishes.[5] The largest, the Cape knifejaw, can reach a maximum length around 90 cm (35 in). Knifejaws have teeth fused into a parrot-like beak in adulthood. They feed on barnacles and mollusks, and are fished commercially. They are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.[6]
The earliest records of knifejaws are fossilized beaks, with attached teeth, known from middle Eocene-aged sediments of the La Meseta Formation of Antarctica. Their early occurrence in Antarctica supports it having temperate climate during the Eocene, and that knifejaws had a wider distribution in the past than today.[1]
- ^ a b "An oplegnathid fish from the Eocene of Antarctica | The Palaeontological Association". www.palass.org. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
- ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Oplegnathus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Oplegnathidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Oplegnathidae". FishBase. February 2014 version.
- ^ J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. p. 437. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
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