Sphyraenidae Rafinesque, 1815

Ballen, Gustavo A., 2019, Nomenclature of the Sphyraenidae (Teleostei: Carangaria): A synthesis of fossil- and extant-based classification systems, Zootaxa 4686 (3), pp. 397-408 : 401

Family Sphyraenidae Rafinesque, 1815

Type genus: Sphyraena Artedi, 1793 .

Content: Two genera, one extant and one extinct. † Parasphyraena Switchenska, 1968 , and Sphyraena Artedi, 1793 .

Comments: The Sphyraenidae is a well-corroborated monophyletic assemblage in most works; however, its position among acantomorphs has been variable. Despite molecular data consistently place it among the Carangaria, morphological data suggest that it is related to the Scombroidei instead. It has been placed in the Istiophoriformes ( Nelson et al., 2016) (and associated to Swordfishes as early as in Winkler, 1875), at several positions within the Carangaria ( Betancur-R et al., 2017; also see an overview in Harrington et al., 2016), and also basal within the Scombroidei ( Johnson, 1986).