Callionymidae: Development and Relationships 

 E. D. HouDE 



THE Callionymidae are one of three families in the order 

 Gobiesociformes (Gosline, 1970; Nelson, 1976). System- 

 atics, ontogeny and relationships of Callionymidae and the other 

 families, Gobiesocidae and Draconettidae, have been reviewed 

 and summarized for this symposium by Allen (this volume). 

 The callionymids are small demersal fishes found in all warm 

 seas. Most species are less than 100 mm in length. Maximum 

 length is about 200 mm (Nelson, 1976; Nakabo, 1 982b). Nelson 

 ( 1976) indicated that there are eight genera with about 40 species 

 in the family. Fncke (1980, 1981a, 1981b) believed the family 

 to be more diverse with perhaps 130 species worldwide, 75 in 

 the genus Callionymus. and Nakabo (1982b) recently has pro- 

 posed 19 genera and 139 species. Callionymids are most abun- 

 dant and diverse in shallow marine waters of the Indo-Pacific 

 (Smith, 1963; Fricke, 1980, 1981b). They also are common in 

 the Atlantic (Davis, 1966). Although usually found in depths 

 less than 1 00 m, some species occur to depths of > 600 m (Davis, 



1 966). Larvae sometimes are abundant in coastal ichthyoplank- 

 ton surveys. For example, Callionymus pauciradiatus was the 

 second most common species of larva in Biscayne Bay, Florida 

 (Houde and Alpem Lovdal, in press) while Callionymidae were 

 the sixth most abundant family of larvae in Persian Gulf fish 

 larvae collections.' 



Nakabo (1982b) has extensively revised the Callionymidae, 

 establishing 7 new genera and redefining 12 previously recog- 

 nized genera/subgenera. Genera are defined based on cephalic 

 lateral lines, lateral lines on the body, morphology, secondary 



' Houde, E. D., J. C. Leak, S. Al-Matar and C. E. Dowd. 1981. 

 Ichthyoplankton abundance and diversity in the western Arabian Gulf. 

 Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. Mariculture and Fishenes De- 

 partment. Final Report, Project MB- 16, 3 volumes. (This report was 

 not available for distnbution at the time the present paper was written.) 



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