Origin and Evolution of the Sciaenidae
Sciaenids are thought to have been derived early in the evolution of the order Perciformes because of a number of primitive characters they possess (Sasaki, 1989). Workers using primarily swimbladders and otoliths to evaluate relationships, believed sciaenids were fairly close to haemulids. For example Trewavas (1977) believed the Haemulidae and Lutjanidae were phylogenetically the closest families. Chao (1978, 1986) supported the Haemulidae as the sister family to the Sciaenidae, and believed sciaenids were close to other percoids that make sound and use the swimbladder as a resonating chamber. Schwarzhans (1993) also supported haemulids as the sister family of sciaenids based on sagitta morphology. This author pointed to the similarity between sagittae of extant genus Pachyurus and those of haemulids as evidence. On the other hand, Sasaki (1989) indicated most of the similarities between sciaenids and haemulids identified by Trewavas (1977) were pleisomorphies and presented evidence that haemulids may be the sister family of the gerreids. Sasaki could not identify a potential sister family for the Sciaenidae. More recently, Johnson (1993) pointed to a close affinity between the Sciaenidae and the Polynemidae based mainly on the similarity of larvae, the presence of a deep complicated membranous prenasal canal extension, the medial interdigitation of the metapterygoid and quadrate, and the insertion of a single branchiostegal ray on the posterior ceratohyal. Johnson recommended the Sciaenidae and Polynamidae be placed in the superfamily Polynemoidea. Nelson (1994) supported Johnson's hypothesis on sciaenid-polynemid relationships.
Two Eastern Pacific Polynemids: (The Polynemidae may be the sister group of the Sciaenidae)
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| Polydactylus approximans |
Polydactylus opercularis |
Polynemids occur in tropical and subtropical seas throughout the world. There are 33 species in 7 genera (Nelson, 1994). Five species, all in the genus Polydactylus, occur in the new world, two in the eastern Pacific, and three in the western Atlantic (Randall, 1977; Schneider, 1995).
References:
Chao, L.N. 1978. A basis for classifying western Atlantic Sciaenidae (Teleostei: Perciformes). NOAA Technical Report Circular- 415.
Chao, L.N. 1986. A synopsis on zoogeography of the Sciaenidae. Pages 570-589 in Indo-Pacific Fish Biology. Uyeno, T., et al. (eds.). The Ichthyological Society of Japan. Tokyo.
Johnson, G.D. 1993. Percomorph phylogeny: progress and problems. Bulletin of Marine Science 52(1):3-28.
Nelson, J.S. 1994. Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. 600 pp.
Randall, J.E. 1977. Polynemidae. In W. Fischer (ed.). FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western central Atlantic (fishing area 31). Vol. III. Rome, FAO.
Sasaki, K. 1989. Phylogeny of the family Sciaenidae, with notes on its zoogeography (Teleostei, Perciformes). Mem. Fac. Fish. Hokkaido University 35(1/2):1-137.
Schneider, M. 1995. Polynemidae. Pages 1386 to 1387 in W. Fischer, F. Krupp, W. Schneider, C. Sommer, K.E. Carpenter, and V.H. Niem (eds.). Guia Fao para la identificacion de especies para los fines de la pesca. Pacific centro-oriental. Volumen III. Vertebrados- Parte II. Roma, FAO.
Schwarzhans, W. 1993. Piscium Catalogus. Part Otolithi Piscium vol. 1. A comparative morphological treatise of recent and fossil otoliths of the family Sciaenidae (Perciformes). Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil. Munchen. 245 pp.
Trewavas, E. 1977. The sciaenid fishes (croakers or drums) of the Indo-West-Pacific. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 33:253-541.
