Wikipedia

List of marine fishes of South Africa

See also: List of marine bony fishes of South Africa

This is a list of fishes recorded from the oceans bordering South Africa. This part of the list includes any fishes that are not bony fishes., which are the jawless and jawed cartilagenous fishes. This list comprises locally used common names, scientific names with author citation and recorded ranges. Ranges specified may not be the entire known range for the species, but should include the known range within the waters surrounding the Republic of South Africa.

Map of the Southern African coastline showing some of the landmarks referred to in species range statements

List ordering and taxonomy complies where possible with the current usage in World Register of Marine Species, and may differ from the cited source, as listed citations are primarily for range or existence of records for the region. Sub-taxa within any given taxon are arranged alphabetically as a general rule. Details of each species may be available through the relevant internal links. Synonyms may be listed where useful (usually when recorded under the synonym).

A fish (pl.: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fish, the latter including all living cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as the extinct placoderms and acanthodians. Most fish are cold-blooded, their body temperature varying with the surrounding water, though some large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core temperature. Many fish can communicate acoustically with each other, such as during courtship displays.

The earliest fish appeared during the Cambrian as small filter feeders; they continued to evolve through the Paleozoic, diversifying into many forms. The earliest fish with dedicated respiratory gills and paired fins, the ostracoderms, had heavy bony plates that served as protective exoskeletons against invertebrate predators. The first fish with jaws, the placoderms, appeared in the Silurian and greatly diversified during the Devonian, the "Age of Fishes".

Bony fish, distinguished by the presence of swim bladders and later ossified endoskeletons, emerged as the dominant group of fish after the end-Devonian extinction wiped out the apex placoderms. Bony fish are further divided into the lobe-finned and ray-finned fish. About 96% of all living fish species today are teleosts, a crown group of ray-finned fish that can protrude their jaws. The tetrapods, a mostly terrestrial clade of vertebrates that have dominated the top trophic levels in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems since the Late Paleozoic, evolved from lobe-finned fish during the Carboniferous, developing air-breathing lungs homologous to swim bladders. Despite the cladistic lineage, tetrapods are usually not considered to be fish, making "fish" a paraphyletic group. (Full article...)


Infraphylum Agnatha – Jawless fishes (Cyclostomes)

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Class Myxini

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Order Myxiniformes – Hagfishes

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Family: Myxinidae[1]

Infraphylum Gnathostomata – Jawed fishes

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Parvphylum Chondrichthyes – Cartilaginous fishes

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Class Elasmobranchii – Sharks and Rays

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Infraclass Batoidea – Rays (including skates, guitarfish and sawfish)
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Order Myliobatiformes – Stingrays
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Family: Dasyatidae – Whiptail stingrays

Family: Gymnuridae – Butterflyrays

Family: Hexatrygonidae – Sixgill stingrays

Family: Myliobatidae – Eagle rays

Order Rajiformes – Rays, skates and guitarfish
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Family Anacanthobatidae

Family Arhynchobatidae

Family Gurgesiellidae

Family: Rajidae – Skates

Order Rhinopristiformes
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Family: Pristidae – Sawfishes [23]

Family: Rhinobatidae – Guitarfish

Order Torpediniformes – Electric rays
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Family: Narkidae

Family: Torpedinidae

Infraclass Selachii – Sharks
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Order Carcharhiniformes – Ground sharks
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Family: Carcharhinidae – Requiem sharks

Family: Hemigaleidae

Family: Pentanchidae

Family: Proscylliidae

Family: Scyliorhinidae – Catsharks

Family: Sphyrnidae – Hammerhead sharks

Family: Triakidae – Houndsharks

Order Echinorhiniformes
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Family: Echinorhinidae – Bramble sharks

Order Hexanchiformes – Cow and frill sharks
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Family: Hexanchidae – Cow sharks

Order Lamniformes – Mackerel sharks
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Family: Alopiidae – Thresher sharks

Family: Cetorhinidae – Basking sharks

Family: Lamnidae – Mackerel sharks

Family: Mitsukurinidae – Goblin sharks

Family: Odontaspididae

Family: Pseudocarchariidae – Crocodile sharks

Order Orectolobiformes – Carpet sharks
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Family: Ginglymostomatidae

Family: Rhincodontidae – Whale sharks

Family: Stegostomatidae

Order Pristiophoriformes – Sawsharks
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Family: Pristiophoridae

Order Squaliformes – Dogfish sharks
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Family: Centrophoridae

Family: Dalatiidae

Family: Somniosidae

Family: Squalidae – Dogfishes

Order Squatiniformes – Angelsharks
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Family: Squatinidae

Subclass Holocephali – Chimaeras

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Order Chimaeriformes
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Family: Callorhinchidae – Elephantfish

Family: Chimaeridae – Chimaeras

Family: Rhinochimaeridae – Longnose chimaeras

Parvphylum Osteichthyes – Bony fishes

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See article List of marine bony fishes of South Africa

References

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  1. ^ "Myxinidae Rafinesque, 1815". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg eh ei ej ek el em en eo ep eq er es et eu ev ew ex ey ez fa fb fc fd fe Ed. Smith, Margaret M, and Heemstra, P. Smith's sea fishes. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown. Struik publishers, Cape Town, 2003. ISBN 1-86872-890-0
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Branch, G.M. Griffiths, C.L. Branch, M.L. Beckley, L.E. Two Oceans: A guide to the marine life of southern Africa. 5th impression, David Philip, Cape Town, 2000. ISBN 0-86486-250-4
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jones, Georgina. A field guide to the marine animals of the Cape Peninsula. SURG, Cape Town, 2008. ISBN 978-0-620-41639-9
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Zsilavecz, Guido, Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay: A divers' identification guide. SURG, Cape Town, 2005. ISBN 0-620-34230-7
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n King, Dennis., and Fraser, Valda. More reef fishes and nudibranchs. Struik, Cape Town, 2001. ISBN 1-86872-686-X
  7. ^ a b c d e f g King, Dennis. Reef fishes and corals: East coast of southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town, 1996. ISBN 1-86825-981-1
  8. ^ "Pteromylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Manta birostris (Walbaum, 1792)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Mobula japanica (Müller & Henle, 1841)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Anacanthobatis marmorata (von Bonde & Swart, 1923)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Cruriraja triangularis Smith, 1964". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Raja robertsi Hulley, 1970". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  14. ^ "Raja pullopunctata Smith, 1964". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  15. ^ "Raja springeri Wallace, 1967". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  16. ^ "Raja wallacei Hulley, 1970". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  17. ^ "Raja spinacidermis Barnard, 1923". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  18. ^ "Raja confundens Hulley, 1970". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Raja caudaspinosa von Bonde & Swart, 1923". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  20. ^ "Raja dissimilis Hulley, 1970". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Raja leopardus von Bonde & Swart, 1923". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  22. ^ "Raja ravidula Hulley, 1970". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Pristidae Bonaparte, 1835". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Rhinobatos annulatus Müller & Henle, 184". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  25. ^ "Rhinobatos leucospilus Norman, 1926". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  26. ^ "Rhinobatos ocellatus Norman, 1926". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  27. ^ Compagno, Leonard; Phillip Heemstra (May 2007). "Electrolux addisoni, a new genus and species of electric ray from the east coast of South Africa (Rajiformes: Torpedinoidei: Narkidae), with a review of torpedinoid taxonomy". Smithiana, Publications in Aquatic Biodiversity. 7. The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity: 15–49. ISSN 1684-4130. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  28. ^ "Torpedo nobiliana Bonaparte, 1835". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  29. ^ "Poroderma marleyi Fowler, 1934". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  30. ^ "Hexanchus vitulus Springer & Waller, 1969". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  31. ^ "Nebrius concolor Rüppell, 1837". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  32. ^ "Stegostoma fasciatum (Hermann, 1783)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  33. ^ "Centrophorus scalpratus McCulloch, 1915". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  34. ^ "Scymnorhinus licha (Bonnaterre, 1788)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  35. ^ "Centroscymnus obscurus Vaillant, 1888". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
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