This is a family composed of about 90
species of mostly marine fishes with a few representatives living in
brackish and fresh waters. Their distribution includes the Atlantic,
Indian, and Pacific Oceans. They usually have scales and the swim
bladder is present. Their opercles usually have a strong spine. All
members of this family are viviparous (Nelson 1994). They have no
characters that can be labeled as preadaptaed to the hypogean environment,
yet nine species belonging to three genera of the family are hypogean.
Of the seven species of Lucifuga, five are hypogean. The species of this genus need to be studied using genetic
techniques. Given that some of these species can be found together
as well as the large overlap of characters among them, it raises questions
of whether they represent just populations of no more than two species.
Hybridizations may also occur. Until these species are studied from a
population genetics perspective, rather than purely morphological, we will
not know for sure. Of the five species of Ogilbia, two are
hypogean.
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1. Lucifuga dentatus Poey, 1858
2. Lucifuga
lucayana Møller,
Schwarzhans, Iliffe &
Nielsen, 2006
3. Lucifuga simile Nalbant, 1981
4. Lucifuga spelaeotes Cohen & Robins,
1970
5. Lucifuga subterraneus Poey, 1858
6. Lucifuga teresinarum Díaz Perez, 1988
7. Ogilbia galapagosensis (Poll & LeLeup, 1965)
8. Ogilbia pearsei (Hubbs, 1938)
9.
Grammonus thielei
Nielsen and Cohen 2004 |