Gempylidae

The Gempylidae are a family of scombriform ray-finned fishes commonly known as snake mackerels or escolars. The family includes about 25 species.

They are elongated fishes with a similar appearance to barracudas, having a long dorsal fin, usually with one or finlets trailing it. The largest species, including the snoek (Leionura atun), grow up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) long, and the oilfish (Ruvettus pretiosus) can reach 3 m (9.8 ft), though they rarely surpass 150 cm (59 in). Like the barracudas, they are predators, with fang-like teeth.^[1]

Taxonomy

Subfamily Clade 1 Mthethwa, 2023
- Genus Diplospinus
  - Diplospinus multistriatus Maul, 1948 (Striped escolar)
- Genus Gempylus
  - Gempylus serpens G. Cuvier, 1829 (Snake mackerel)
- Genus Nealotus
  - Nealotus tripes J. Y. Johnson, 1865 (Black Snake mackerel)
- Genus Nesiarchus
  - Nesiarchus nasutus J. Y. Johnson, 1862 (Black gemfish)
- Genus Paradiplospinus
  - Paradiplospinus antarcticus Andriashev, 1960 (Antarctic escolar)
  - Paradiplospinus gracilis (A. B. Brauer, 1906) (Slender escolar)
- Genus Promethichthys
  - Promethichthys prometheus (G. Cuvier, 1832) (Roudi escolar)
- Genus Rexea
  - Rexea alisae C. D. Roberts & A. L. Stewart, 1997
  - Rexea antefurcata Parin, 1989 (Long-finned escolar)
  - Rexea bengalensis (Alcock, 1894) (Bengal escolar)
  - Rexea brevilineata Parin, 1989 (Short-lined escolar)
  - Rexea nakamurai Parin, 1989 (Nakamura's escolar)
  - Rexea prometheoides (Bleeker, 1856) (Royal escolar)
  - Rexea solandri (G. Cuvier, 1832) (Silver gemfish)
- Genus Rexichthys
  - Rexichthys johnpaxtoni Parin & Astakhov, 1987 (Paxton's escolar)
- Genus Leionura
  - Leionura atun (Euphrasén, 1791) (Snoek)
- Genus Thyrsites
  - Thyrsites lepidopodea (Lesson, 1831) (White snake mackerel))
- Genus Thyrsitoides
  - Thyrsitoides marleyi Fowler, 1929 (Blacksail snake mackerel)
  - †Thyrsitoides zarahoustrae Arambourg, 1967^[2]
- Genus Tongaichthys
  - Tongaichthys robustus I. Nakamura & E. Fujii, 1983 (Tonga escolar)
Subfamily Clade 2 Mthethwa, 2023
- Genus Epinnula
  - Epinnula magistralis Poey, 1854
  - Epinnula pacifica Ho, Motomura, Hata & Jiang, 2017
- Genus Lepidocybium
  - Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (A. Smith, 1843) (Escolar)
- Genus Neoepinnula
  - Neoepinnula americana (M. G. Grey, 1953) (American sackfish)
  - Neoepinnula minetomai Nakayama, Y. Kimura & Endo, 2014 (Large-eyed sackfish)
  - Neoepinnula orientalis (Gilchrist & von Bonde, 1924) (Sackfish)
- Genus Ruvettus
  - Ruvettus pretiosus Cocco, 1833 (Oilfish)

The Gempylidae are broadly categorized into two clades; Clade 1, which includes more derived & elongate genera, and Clade 2, which includes more basal & fusiform genera. The Trichiuridae are an outgroup.^[3]

Scombroidei

	Trichiuridae70px

Gempylidae

Clade 2

Lepidocybium70px

Ruvettus70px

Epinnula70px

	Neoepinnula

Clade 1

Nesiarchus70px

	Gempylus50px

	Thyrsitoides

Rexea60px

Thyrsites

	Paradiplospinus

	Diplospinus

	Nealotus

	Promethichthys70px

Gempylidae are believed to have first evolved at least 20 million years after the Late Cretaceus Extinction event, potentially due to tectonic plate movements.^[3]

Fossil genera

The following fossil genera are known:^[2]^[4]^[5]

†Abadzekhia Bannikov, 1985 (Early Oligocene of North Caucasus, Russia and Germany)
†Contemptor Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2026 (Eocene of northern Italy)^[6]
†Chelifichthys Carnevale, 2006 (Late Miocene (Messinian) of Algeria)
†Eothyrsites Chapman, 1934 (mid-late Eocene of New Zealand)
†Hemithyrsites Daniltshenko, 1960 (Oligocene of Poland & Romania)
†Krampusichthys Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)
†Laurinichthys Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)
†Progempylus Casier, 1966 (Early Eocene of England)
†Thyrsitocephalus vom Rath, 1859 (Early Oligocene of Switzerland)
†Wudelenia Calzoni, Giusberti & Carnevale, 2025 (Early Eocene of Italy)

Timeline

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from: -55.8   till:  -33.9    color:eocene  text:Eocene 
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color:oligocene bar:NAM3  from:	-25.3	till:	0	text:	Epinnula
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color:eocene bar:NAM6  from:	-39.2	till:	0	text:	Nesiarchus
color:oligocene bar:NAM7  from:	-31	till:	0	text:	Gempylus
color:oligocene bar:NAM8  from:	-31	till:	0	text:	Thyrsitoides
color:oligocene bar:NAM9  from:	-29.1	till:	0	text:	Rexea solandri
color:miocene bar:NAM10  from:	-20.4	till:	0	text:	Rexea antefurcata
color:miocene bar:NAM11  from:	-8.2	till:	0	text:	Rexea prometheoides
color:miocene bar:NAM12  from:	-8.2	till:	0	text:	Rexea nakamurai
color:oligocene bar:NAM13  from:	-31.4	till:	0	text:	Thyrsites
color:miocene bar:NAM14  from:	-20.6	till:	0	text:	Promethichthys
color:miocene bar:NAM15  from:	-20.6	till:	0	text:	Nealotus
color:miocene bar:NAM16  from:	-15.7	till:	0	text:	Diplospinus
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References

↑ Johnson, G.D.; Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 "Gempylidae". https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=txn:358057.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Mthethwa, Siphesihle; Bester-van_der_Merwe, Aletta E.; Roodt-Wilding, Rouvay (June 2023). "Addressing the complex phylogenetic relationship of the Gempylidae fishes using mitogenome data" (in en). Ecology and Evolution 13 (6). doi:10.1002/ece3.10217. ISSN 2045-7758. PMID 37351481. Bibcode: 2023EcoEv..1310217M.
↑ Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2024-10-19). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 54 (5): 584–601. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMID 39440288. Bibcode: 2024JRSNZ..54..584R.
↑ Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Carnevale, Giorgio (2025-07-29). "THE YPRESIAN FISHES OF THE SOLTERI LAGERSTÄTTE (TRENTO, NORTHERN ITALY): A GLIMPSE INTO THE EARLY EOCENE TETHYAN MESOPELAGIC ASSEMBLAGES". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 131 (2). doi:10.54103/2039-4942/28705. ISSN 2039-4942. Bibcode: 2025RIPS..13128705C. https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/28705.
↑ Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Fornaciari, Eliana; Luciani, Valeria; Boscolo-Galazzo, Flavia; Bernardi, Massimo; Tomasoni, Riccardo; Carnevale, Giorgio (2026-03-04). Banerjee, Santanu. ed. "The Ypresian ichthyofauna of the Monte Solane Lagerstätte (Verona, northern Italy): A deep dive into the western Tethys early Eocene mesopelagic setting" (in en). PLOS One 21 (3). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0338490. ISSN 1932-6203. PMID 41779693. PMC 12959715. https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338490.
↑ Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2023-07-12). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 54 (5): 584–601. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMID 39440288. Bibcode: 2024JRSNZ..54..584R.
↑ Danilʹchenko, P. G. (1967). Bony fishes of the Maikop deposits of the Caucasus.
↑ Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2008). "A new genus and species of putative euzaphlegid fish from the Eocene of Bolca in northern Italy (Periformes, Trichiuroidea)." Studi e Ricerche sui giacimenti Terziari di Bolca, XII Miscellanea Paleontologica 9: 99–107. [1]
↑ David, Lore Rose (January 10, 1943). Miocene Fishes of Southern California. Geological Society of America. pp. 104–115.

External links

Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
Scientia Marina - Population biology of the roudi escolar Promethichthys prometheus (Gempylidae) off the Canary Islands
Deep water fish species - Lanzarote

Wikidata ☰ Q1136229 entry

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Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gempylidae. Read more

[EoF-1] Johnson, G.D.; Gill, A.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 190. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.

[PBDB-2] 2.0 ^2.1 "Gempylidae". https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=txn:358057.

[:0-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Mthethwa, Siphesihle; Bester-van_der_Merwe, Aletta E.; Roodt-Wilding, Rouvay (June 2023). "Addressing the complex phylogenetic relationship of the Gempylidae fishes using mitogenome data" (in en). Ecology and Evolution 13 (6). doi:10.1002/ece3.10217. ISSN 2045-7758. PMID 37351481. Bibcode: 2023EcoEv..1310217M.

[4] Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2024-10-19). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 54 (5): 584–601. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMID 39440288. Bibcode: 2024JRSNZ..54..584R.

[5] Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Carnevale, Giorgio (2025-07-29). "THE YPRESIAN FISHES OF THE SOLTERI LAGERSTÄTTE (TRENTO, NORTHERN ITALY): A GLIMPSE INTO THE EARLY EOCENE TETHYAN MESOPELAGIC ASSEMBLAGES". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 131 (2). doi:10.54103/2039-4942/28705. ISSN 2039-4942. Bibcode: 2025RIPS..13128705C. https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/28705.

[6] Calzoni, Pietro; Giusberti, Luca; Fornaciari, Eliana; Luciani, Valeria; Boscolo-Galazzo, Flavia; Bernardi, Massimo; Tomasoni, Riccardo; Carnevale, Giorgio (2026-03-04). Banerjee, Santanu. ed. "The Ypresian ichthyofauna of the Monte Solane Lagerstätte (Verona, northern Italy): A deep dive into the western Tethys early Eocene mesopelagic setting" (in en). PLOS One 21 (3). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0338490. ISSN 1932-6203. PMID 41779693. PMC 12959715. https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338490.

[7] Rust, Seabourne; Robinson, Jeffrey H. (2023-07-12). "Revisiting Eothyrsites holosquamatus Chapman (Trichiuroidea: Gempylidae), an Eocene gemfish from the Burnside Mudstone, Dunedin, New Zealand". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 54 (5): 584–601. doi:10.1080/03036758.2023.2228211. ISSN 0303-6758. PMID 39440288. Bibcode: 2024JRSNZ..54..584R.

[8] Danilʹchenko, P. G. (1967). Bony fishes of the Maikop deposits of the Caucasus.

[bannikov-9] Bannikov, Alexandre F. (2008). "A new genus and species of putative euzaphlegid fish from the Eocene of Bolca in northern Italy (Periformes, Trichiuroidea)." Studi e Ricerche sui giacimenti Terziari di Bolca, XII Miscellanea Paleontologica 9: 99–107. [1]

[David1943-10] David, Lore Rose (January 10, 1943). Miocene Fishes of Southern California. Geological Society of America. pp. 104–115.

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Gempylidae

Contents

Taxonomy

Fossil genera

Timeline

See also

References

External links