Order Summary for Syngnathiformes

  Main Ref
:
  Order
:
Syngnathiformes pipefishes and seahorses
  Class
:
Actinopterygii
  Sister Order
:
Synbranchiformes 15 M years
  Ref..
:
  First Fossil Record
:
late Tertiary
  Occurs in
:
Marine
Fresh
Brackish
  Remark
:
Body elongate and encased in a series of bony rings; mouth small, at end of tube-shaped snout (except in the "finless" pipefish Bulbonaricus, whose adults lack even a short tubiform snout); pelvic fins, when present, abdominal; upper jaw not protractile; lachrymal usually present, other circumorbital bones usually absent; ribs absent; anterior 3-6 vertebrae elongate; aglomerular kidney in at least some.
  Classetymology
:
Greek aktis = ray, thunderbolt, beam + Greek pterygion, diminutive of pteryx = wing, fin. Ref. 45335.
  Orderetymology
:
Greek, syn = with, together + Greek, gnathos = jaw + Latin, forma = shape (Ref. 45335).
  Families
:

Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]                       
Glossary
                    [ e.g. cephalopods]

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