The eelpouts are the ray-finned fish family Zoarcidae. As the common name suggests, they are somewhat eel-like in appearance, with elongated bodies and the dorsal and anal fins continuous with the caudal fin. All of the approximately 220 species are marine, mostly bottom-dwelling, some at great depths. They are sometimes called "fish doctors"^{[citation needed]} (not to be confused with the doctorfish or surgeon fishes).

They are traditionally placed in the "perciform" assemblage; in fact, the Zoarcoidei seem to be specialized member of the Gasterosteiformes-Scorpaeniformes group of Acanthopterygii.^[1]

The largest member of the family is the Ocean Pout (Zoarces americanus), which may reach 1.1 meter. Other notable family members include the slipskins (Lycodapus) and unernaks (Gymnelus).

Popular culture

The International Eelpout Festival that takes place in February in Walker, Minnesota, celebrates the burbot, which is actually a cod-like fish misleadingly known locally as the eelpout. ^[2] Photographs ^[3]

Genera and selected species

Wolf Eelpout (Lycenchelys verrillii)

Saddled Eelpout (Lycodes mucosus)

Chevron Scutepout (Lycodonus mirabilis)

Timeline

Footnotes

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Zoarcidae

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zoarcidae

• Kawahara, Ryouka; Miya, Masaki; Mabuchi, Kohji; Lavoue, Sébastien; Inoue, Jun G.; Satoh, Takashi P.; Kawaguchi, Akira & Nishida, Mutsumi (2008): Interrelationships of the 11 gasterosteiform families (sticklebacks, pipefishes, and their relatives): A new perspective based on mitogenome sequences from 75 higher teleosts. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 46(1): 224–236. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.07.009 (HTML abstract)
• Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: p.560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class. Retrieved 2011-05-19.