Polynemidae Rafinesque 1815

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 41

Family Polynemidae Rafinesque 1815 ( Fig. 3M ). Threadfins, Tassel-Fishes, Bobos; Bobos, Barbudos

Description: Body elongate, compressed; up to 46 cm in length; snout short, conical, translucent, overhangs mouth; mouth moderate, inferior, with bottom lip extending to front, but no top lip; tooth bands of top jaw touching in center; eyes large, longer than snout, with fatty cover, at front of head; preopercle serrated; scales rough; lateral line extends onto caudal fin; pectoral fin low on side, divided in two portions, the upper portion a normal fin, with 12–19 rays, the lower portion, under gills, with 3–16 long, free rays; two well separated dorsal fins, the first one with eight spines and the second one with one spine and 11–15 rays; pelvic fins well behind the pectoral fin base, under the first dorsal; anal fin base short, with three spines and 10–18 rays; caudal fin forked ( Robertson & Allen 2015).

Distribution: Marine (often brackish), rarely freshwater; worldwide, all tropical and subtropical seas ( Robertson & Allen 2015). One genus and three species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 2; Bryconidae (A), Characidae (B), Gymnotidae (C), Loricariidae (D), Heptapteridae (E), Ariidae (F), Batrachoididae (G), Syngnathidae (H), Eleotridae (I), Gobiidae (J), Synbranchidae (K), Centropomidae (L), Polynemidae (M) and Paralichthyidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).