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atheriniform
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Also known as: Atheriniformes
Written by
Colin Patterson
Curator of Fossil Fishes, British Museum (Natural History), London. Coeditor of Fossil Vertebrates.
Colin Patterson
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The whale fishes (cetomimids, rondeletiids, barbourisiids) are often placed in a separate order Cetomimiformes, thought to be more primitive than Beryciformes, but their “primitive” features appear to be due only to degeneration. The stephanoberycids, melamphaeids, and gibberichthyids are usually placed in a suborder Stephanoberycoidei, all other beryciforms being placed in the Berycoidei, but the major phyletic cleft in Beryciformes seems to be between the holocentrids and the remainder, which form a related group.

Colin Patterson