Article
Article
Perciformes
Article By:
Boschung, Herbert T. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Last reviewed:August 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.497900
The largest order of fishes, comprising 20 suborders, 160 families, about 1540 genera, and over 10,000 species, which is about 36% of all fish species. Eighty percent of the perciforms are marine species; in contrast, the Ostariophysi, which comprise the next three largest orders (Cypriniformes, ∼3300 species; Characiformes, ∼1700 species; and Siluriformes, ∼2900 species), are virtually all freshwater inhabitants. The ostariophysans are dominant in the freshwaters of the world; the perciforms are dominant in the oceans. See also: Ostariophysi; Osteichthyes
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