page_title: Lampriformes
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Lampriformes / Systematics and evolution / Classification
caption_attribution_description: English: Scalloped ribbonfish (Zu cristatus)
context_page_description: Lampriformes is an order of ray-finned fish. Members are collectively called lamprids or lampriforms, and unite such open-ocean and partially deep-sea Teleostei as the crestfishes, oarfish, opahs, and ribbonfishes. A synonym for this order is Allotriognathi, while an often-seen, but apparently incorrect, spelling variant is Lampridiformes. They contain seven extant families which are generally small but highly distinct, and a mere 12 lampriform genera with some 20 species altogether are recognized.
  The scientific name literally means "shaped bright", as "lampr-", meaning bright, comes from lampris, the generic name for the opah. In contrast, most other living lampriforms are actually ribbon-like and not very similar to the disc-shaped opahs in habitus. They are, however, quite distinctly united by their anatomy, and the family's phylogeny, as well as the most ancient fossils of this order suggest the original lampriform was rather "opah-shaped". The scientific name is a combination of Lampris + the standard fish order suffix "-formes". It ultimately derives from Ancient Greek lamprós + Latin forma, the former in reference to brilliant coloration of opahs.
context_section_description: The order is occasionally divided into the Bathysomi and the Taeniosomi. The former are a paraphyletic assemblage, thus effectively synonymous with the entire order, while the latter can be considered a valid suborder. Including fossil taxa, the classification of the Lampriformes in phylogenetic sequence, with the number of living genera and species, can thus be given as:
  Basal and incertae sedis
  Genus Bathysoma (fossil)
  Genus Bajaichthys (fossil)
  Genus Nardovelifer (fossil)
  Genus Palaeocentrotus (fossil)
  Family Turkmenidae (fossil)
  Family Veliferidae — sailfin moonfishes (two genera, six species)
  Family Lampridae — opahs (one genus, two species)
  Suborder Taeniosomi
  Family Lophotidae — crestfishes (two genera, three species)
  Family Radiicephalidae — tapertail (monotypic)
  Family Trachipteridae — ribbonfishes (three genera, 10 species)
  Family Regalecidae — oarfishes (two genera, four species)
caption: Scalloped ribbonfish, Zu cristatus (Trachipteridae)
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