Latidae

Latidae
Barramundi (L. calcarifer)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Suborder: Percoidei
Family: Latidae
Genera[1]

The Latidae, known as the lates perches, are a family of perch-like fishes found in Africa, Asia and the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The family includes about 13 species. The family, previously classified subfamily Latinae in family Centropomidae, was raised to family status in 2004 after a cladistic analysis showed the original Centropomidae were paraphyletic.[2]

Many species in this family are important food fishes, and some have been introduced outside their native ranges to provide fishing stocks. The freshwater Nile perch, a fierce predator, has become infamous, as its introduction into Lake Victoria in the 1950s has wrought devastation on the native fishes of the lake, causing the extinction of many endemic cichlids there.[3]

References

  1. Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2013). "Latidae" in FishBase. October 2013 version.
  2. Otero, Olga (May 2004). "Anatomy, systematics and phylogeny of both Recent and fossil latid fishes (Teleostei, Perciformes, Latidae)" (abstract). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 141 (1): 81. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00111.x. Retrieved 2006-08-15.
  3. Pringle, R.M. (2005). The Origins of the Nile Perch in Lake Victoria. BioScience 55 (9): 780-787.


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