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]

## Contents

* 1 Taxonomy
* 1.1 Fossil genera
* 2 Timeline
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## 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

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Gempylidae  |  | Clade 2  |  |  |

Lepidocybium70px

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Ruvettus70px

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Epinnula70px

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Neoepinnula

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Clade 1  |  |  |

Nesiarchus70px

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Gempylus50px

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Thyrsitoides

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Rexea60px

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Thyrsites

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Paradiplospinus

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Diplospinus

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Nealotus

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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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color:oligocene bar:NAM7  from:	-31	till:	0	text:	Gempylus
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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
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color:miocene bar:NAM14  from:	-20.6	till:	0	text:	Promethichthys
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## See also

* Euzaphlegidae, an extinct group of relatives from Paleocene to Late Miocene-aged marine strata of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains,[8] India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Italy,[9] and Southern California.[10]

## References

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.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Gempylidae". https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=txn:358057.
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.
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]
10. ↑ 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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*[†]: Extinct