Artedidraconidae

The Artedidraconidae, barbeled plunderfishes, are a family of marine ray-finned fishes, notothenioids belonging to the Perciform suborder Notothenioidei. The family comprises four genera. These fishes are endemic to deep waters off Antarctica. Artedidraconidae was first described as a family in 1988 by the American ichthyologist Richard Eakin with Artedidraco as its type genus, the type species of Artedidraco is A. mirus which was described in 1905 by the Swedish zoologist Einar Lönnberg. The genera in the family were previously classified as part of the Harpagiferidae. The family is classified within the suborder Notothenioidei of the order Perciformes. The name of the family is a compound of Artedi, honouring the Swedish naturalist Peter Artedi who was known as the “father of ichthyology,” and who was born 200 years before Lönnberg described A. mirus with draco, from dracœna meaning “dragon” an ancient Greek name for the weeverfish genus Trachinus , although this may be a reference to the relationship Lönnberg mentioned to Draconetta which was thought to be a member of the Nototheniidae at that time. The following four genera are classified within the family Artedidraconidae: Artedidraco Lönnberg, 1905 Dolloidraco Roule, 1913 Histiodraco Regan, 1914 Pogonophryne Regan, 1914 Artedidraconidae taxa are said to have undergone sympatric speciation. Artedidraconidae fishes are characterised by having a body tapering from their large heads to their caudal fins. They have 2 dorsal fins, the first contains 2-7 spines and the second has 22-30 segmented soft rays while the anal fin has 14-21 soft rays. They have large pectoral fins containing 14-21 fin rays while the pelvic fins are positioned at the jugular and contain a single long, sharp spine and 5 soft rays. There are 8-11 branched rays in the caudal fin. They have a large and protractile mouth with small conical teeth on the jaws but none elsewhere. The snout has a single nostril on each side. There is a flattened and hooked spine on the operculum.