Acanthopterygii

Acanthopterygii; Temporal range: Cenomanian–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Labidesthes sicculus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Clade:	Acanthomorpha
Superorder:	Acanthopterygii; Rosen & Patterson, 1969
Subdivisions
	Trachichthyiformes; Beryciformes; Percomorpha (see text);

Acanthopterygii (meaning "spiny-finned one") is a superorder of bony fishes in the class Actinopterygii. Members of this superorder are sometimes called ray-finned fishes for the characteristic sharp, bony rays in their fins; however this name is often given to the class Actinopterygii as a whole.

The suborder includes the berycids and their allies, but by far the largest member of the group is the Percomorpha, the most diverse vertebrate clade.

Taxonomy

The following taxonomy is based on ECoF (2025), with subseries based on earlier studies:^[1]^[2]^[3]

Series Berycida
- Order Trachichthyiformes, including pineconefishes, slimeheads & fangtooths
- Order Beryciformes
  - Suborder Holocentroidei, squirrelfish & soldierfish
  - Suborder Berycoidei, alfonsinos & berycids
  - Suborder Stephanoberycoidei, pricklefishes, whalefishes & gibberfishes
Series Percomorpha
- Subseries Ophidiida
  - Order Ophidiiformes, including cusk-eels, brotulas & pearlfishes
- Subseries Batrachoidida
  - Order Batrachoidiformes, toadfishes
- Subseries Gobiida
  - Order Kurtiformes, nurseryfishes & cardinalfishes
  - Order Gobiiformes, gobies, sleepers & allies
- Subseries Pelagiaria
  - Order Scombriformes, mackerels, tuna, bluefishes, ragfishes, pomfrets, cutlassfish, swallowers, medusafish, & allies
- Subseries Syngnatharia
  - Order Syngnathiformes, seahorses, pipefishes, trumpetfishes, goatfishes, gurnards, seamoths & allies
- Subseries Anabantaria
  - Order Anabantiformes, including labyrinth fishes, snakeheads & badids
  - Order Synbranchiformes, including the swamp eels
- Subseries Carangaria
  - Order Carangiformes, including jacks, flatfish, barracudas, billfish, & allies
- Subseries Ovalentaria
  - Order Atheriniformes, including silversides and rainbowfishes
  - Order Beloniformes, including the flyingfishes, ricefish, needlefishes & halfbeaks
  - Order Cyprinodontiformes, including livebearers, killifishes, rivulines & pupfishes
  - Order Cichliformes, cichlids, leaffishes & convict blenny
  - Order Mugiliformes, mullets & Asiatic glassfish
  - Order Blenniiformes, including blennies, clingfishes, dottybacks, jawfishes, damselfishes & anemonefishes
- Subseries Eupercaria
  - Order Perciformes, including groupers, perches, darters, notothens, flatheads, searobins, scorpionfish, sculpins, sticklebacks, eelpouts & allies
  - Order Centrarchiformes, including temperate perch, knifejaws, sea chubs, freshwater sunfish, hawkfishes & allies
  - Order Labriformes, including wrasses, sandlances, stargazers & allies
  - Order Acropomatiformes, including lanternbellies, gnomefishes, wreckfishes, banjofish, oceanic basslets, armorheads & allies
  - Order Acanthuriformes, including surgeonfishes, butterflyfishes, rabbitfishes, marine angelfishes, drumfish, grunts, ponyfishes, mojarras, snappers, temperate basses, spadefishes, porgies, scats, bigeyes, boarfishes & allies
  - Order Lophiiformes, anglerfishes
  - Order Tetraodontiformes, including the filefishes, pufferfishes, porcupinefishes, triggerfishes, boxfishes, and ocean sunfish

Relationships

Figure 1 shows two very different hypotheses or interpretations, in the form of cladograms, of relationships among acanthopterygians, spiny-rayed fishes: Figure A from Nelson (2006) and B from Johnson and Patterson (1993B). Both agree on the major composition of the superorder Acanthopterygii, but significant differences include the placement of the mugiliform mullets and atheriniform silversides at the base of the lineage in A, whereas in B, those groups are considered higher, percomorph taxa.[1]

+Because of the extraordinary and remarkable distinctiveness of the fishes that are higher spiny rayed, roughly fourteen thousand eight hundred species in two hundred sixty seven families – it is a commendation to their outstanding suite of adaptations that they are in general acknowledged as a coherent group (Figure 2). Generalities beyond question can be made concerning the group in its entirety as well as the essential qualities that define the group, even though discussions and debates concerning taxonomic position and relationships among the different families and orders abounds. A number of families of acanthopterygians share two chief and principal innovations[1] 1. In this group, protractibility and upper jaw movement are predominant. This is attained through the process known as ascending process or the progress and development of a dorsal extension of the premaxilla's anterior tip. This ascending process moves smoothly beside the rostral cartilage hitting the upper jaw further and down. A camlike link between the maxilla and premaxilla aids protrusion, wherein the maxilla rotates and helps push the premaxilla forward[2]

2. The highest level of development is attained by pharyngeal dentition and action. In the pharyngeal apparatus, a redistribution of the muscles and bones’ attachments aids the pharyngeal apparatus. The retractor dorsalis muscle[3] now placed on the 3rd pharyngobranchial curve, pharyngeal jaws that are on the upper are likewise kept up essentially by the 2nd and 3rd epibranchial bones.

Acanthopterygians likewise usually have: ctenoid scales; an evidently symmetrical tail fin kept up by fused basal elements; maxilla excluded from the gape; a physoclistous gas bladder; anal and pelvic fins with spines; two apparent and evident dorsal fins wherein the first one is spiny while the second one is soft-rayed; pelvic fins located towards the front consisting of one leading spine as well as five or a smaller numbers of soft rays and pectoral fins situated next to the body; and an apparently evenly shaped tail fin assisted by combined or merged basal elements.

Several other trends in locomotion, feeding and predator protection identify and distinguish the fishes that are higher spiny-rayed and manifest growing change in the course of acanthopterygian phylogeny. A significant thing to remember is that these are the revolutionary and different from the fishes today, exercising control over the deep, rich natural environment of the marine and a number of lake habitats.