Ephippidae Bleeker 1859

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 : 76

Family Ephippidae Bleeker 1859 ( Fig. 5D ). Spadefishes; Curacas, Catecismos, Pagualas, Polleras, Jambos

Description: Body deep, ovate and compressed; usually up to 70 cm in length; head short; mouth small, opens at front; jaws withbands of brush-like teeth; no teeth on roof of mouth; preopercle finely serrated; dorsal fin continuous, with 5 or 9 spines and 18–40 soft rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 15–28 soft rays ( Robertson & Allen 2015, Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Marine (rarely in brackish water, very rare in freshwater); Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans (Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and one species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 4; Gerreidae (A), Haemulidae (B), Sciaenidae (C), Lobotidae (D), Ephippidae (E) and Tetraodontidae (F). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).