Article
Article
- Zoology
- Osteichthyes
- Gasterosteiformes
Gasterosteiformes
Article By:
Boschung, Herbert T. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.282000
- Suborder Gasterosteoidei (Thoracostei)
- Hypoptychidae (sand eel)
- Aulorhynchidae (tubesnouts)
- Gasterosteidae (sticklebacks)
- Suborder Syngnathoidei (Solenichthyes)
- Infraorder Syngnatha
- Infraorder Indostomoida
- Infraorder Aulostomoida
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
An order of teleost fishes composed of about 257 species, most of which have a small mouth at the end of a long tubular snout and body armor of dermal plates or bony rings. Members of the order Gasterosteiformes are further identified by the absence of supramaxillary, orbitosphenoid, and basisphenoid bones, and by the presence of a pelvic girdle that is not connected to the cleithra. Gasterosteiforms are carnivorous predators, feeding chiefly on crustaceans, which are siphoned from the water by tubelike mouthparts. Large species such as trumpetfishes and cornetfishes are primarily piscivorous. Sticklebacks, pipefishes, and seahorses are popular aquarium fishes. See also: Teleostei
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