The cutlassfishes are about 45 species of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Trichiuridae of the order Scombriformes found in seas throughout the world. Fish of this family are long, slender, and generally steely blue or silver in colour, giving rise to their name. They have reduced or absent pelvic and caudal fins, giving them an eel-like appearance, and large fang-like teeth.

Some of the species are known as scabbardfishes or hairtails; others are called frostfishes because they appear in late autumn and early winter, around the time of the first frosts.

The earliest known remains of cutlassfish are isolated teeth assigned to Eutrichiurides from the Early Paleocene of Morocco, the United States, and Angola, although their affinities are subject to question. The earliest known body fossil of a cutlassfish is a specimen tentatively assigned to Anenchelum from the Early Eocene of Italy.

Classification

This list of species follows FishBase:

  • Subfamily Aphanopidinae <small>Gill, 1863</small>
  • †Genus Anenchelum (Early Eocene to Late Miocene)
  • Genus Aphanopus
  • Aphanopus arigato <small>Parin, 1994</small>
  • Aphanopus beckeri <small>Parin, 1994</small>
  • Aphanopus capricornis <small>Parin, 1994</small>
  • Aphanopus carbo <small>Lowe, 1839</small> (Black scabbardfish)
  • Aphanopus intermedius <small>Parin, 1983</small> (Intermediate scabbardfish)
  • Aphanopus microphthalmus <small>Norman, 1939</small> (Smalleye scabbardfish)
  • Aphanopus mikhailini <small>Parin, 1983</small> (Mikhailin's scabbardfish)
  • Genus Benthodesmus <small>Goode & Bean, 1882</small>
  • Benthodesmus elongatus, <small>Clarke, 1879</small> (Elongate frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus macrophthalmus, <small>Parin & Becker, 1970</small> (Bigeye frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus neglectus, <small>Parin, 1976</small> (Neglected frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus oligoradiatus, <small>Parin & Becker, 1970</small> (Sparse-rayed frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus pacificus, <small>Parin & Becker, 1970</small> (North Pacific frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus papua, <small>Parin, 1978</small> (Papuan frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus simonyi, <small>Steindachner, 1891</small> (Simony's frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus suluensis, <small>Parin, 1976</small> (Philippine frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus tenuis, <small>Günther, 1877</small> (Slender frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus tuckeri, <small>Parin & Becker, 1970</small> (Tucker's frostfish)
  • Benthodesmus vityazi, <small>Parin & Becker, 1970</small> (Vityaz' frostfish)
  • Subfamily Lepidopodinae, <small>Gill, 1863</small>
  • Genus Assurger
  • Assurger anzac <small>Alexander, 1917</small> (Razorback scabbardfish)
  • Genus Eupleurogrammus
  • Eupleurogrammus glossodon, <small>(Bleeker, 1860)</small> (Longtooth hairtail)
  • Eupleurogrammus muticus, <small>(Gray, 1831)</small> (Smallhead hairtail)
  • Genus Evoxymetopon
  • Evoxymetopon macrophthalmus <small>Chakraborty, Yoshino & Iwatsuki, 2006</small>
  • Evoxymetopon moricheni <small>Fricke, Golani & Appelbaum-Golani, 2014</small>
  • Evoxymetopon poeyi <small>Günther, 1887</small> (Poey's scabbardfish)
  • Evoxymetopon taeniatus <small>Gill, 1863</small> (Channel scabbardfish)
  • Genus Lepidopus
  • Lepidopus altifrons, <small>Parin & Collette, 1993</small> (Crested scabbardfish)
  • Lepidopus calcar, <small>Parin & Mikhailin, 1982</small> (Hawaiian ridge scabbardfish)
  • Lepidopus caudatus, <small>(Euphrasen, 1788)</small> (Silver scabbardfish)
  • Lepidopus dubius, <small>Parin & Mikhailin, 1981</small> (Doubtful scabbardfish)
  • Lepidopus fitchi , <small>Rosenblatt & Wilson, 1987</small> (Fitch's scabbardfish)
  • Lepidopus manis, <small>Rosenblatt & Wilson, 1987</small> (Ghost scabbardfish)
  • Genus †Musculopedunculus <small>Parin & Astakhov, 2007</small> (Early Oligocene of Germany)
  • Genus Lepturacanthus
  • Lepturacanthus pantului, <small>(Gupta, 1966)</small> (Coromandel hairtail)
  • Lepturacanthus roelandti <small>(Bleeker, 1860)</small>
  • Lepturacanthus savala, <small>(Cuvier, 1829)</small> (Savalani hairtail)
  • Genus Tentoriceps
  • Tentoriceps cristatus, <small>(Klunzinger, 1884)</small> (Crested hairtail)
  • Genus †Trichiurides (Eocene)
  • Trichiurus brevis, <small>Wang & You, 1992</small> (Chinese short-tailed hairtail)
  • Trichiurus gangeticus, <small>Gupta, 1966</small> (Ganges hairtail)
  • Trichiurus lepturus, <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> (Largehead hairtail)
  • Trichiurus margarites, <small>Li, 1992</small>
  • Trichiurus nanhaiensis, <small>Wang & Xu, 1992</small>
  • Trichiurus nickolensis, <small>Burhanuddin & Iwatsuki, 2003</small> (Australian short-tailed hairtail)
  • Trichiurus russelli, <small>Dutt & Thankam, 1966</small> (Short-tailed hairtail)

Timeline of genera

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References

  • Listing of Trichiuridae in English and Japanese 2003-10-27