User:BioSwimmer/Triglidae

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Triglidae, commonly known as gurnards or sea robins, are a family of bottom-feeding scorpaeniform ray-finned fish. The gurnards are distributed in temperate and tropical seas worldwide.

Taxonomy
Triglidae was first described as a family in 1815 by the French polymath and naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. In 1883 Jordan and Gilbert formally designated Trigla lyra, which had been described by Linnaeus in 1758, as the type species of the genus Trigla and so of the family Triglidae. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this family within the suborder Platycephaloidei in the order Scorpaeniformes. Other authorities differ and do not consider the Scorpaeniformes to be a valid order because the Perciformes order is not monophyletic without the taxa found within the Scorpaeniformes being included. These authorities consider the Triglidae to belong to the suborder Triglioidei, along with the family Peristediidae, within the Perciformes. The family Peristediidae is included in the Triglidae as the subfamily Peristediinae by some authorities.

Characteristics
Most species are around 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in) in length with the females typically being larger than the males. They have an unusually solid skull, and many species also possess armored plates on their bodies. Another distinctive feature is the presence of a "drumming muscle" that makes sounds by beating against the swim bladder. The length of the swim bladder had a negative correlation to gonadal development. A sexual dimorphism of swim bladder size is created due to the negative correlation being stronger in females then in males.

Survival and Reproduction
Classified as carnivores, gurnards mainly feed on crustaceans. Most species are opportunistic predators and will feed on prey such as teleost and mollusks as well. Gurnards do not have a primary predator; however, larger fish, marine mammals, birds, and humans will prey on gurnards. They are bottom-dwelling fish, living down to 200 m (660 ft), although they can be found in much shallower water. When it comes to preferred water depths, adult gurnards will favor deeper water while juveniles will favor shallower water. The different genera of gurnards have diverse offspring spawning periods, varying in length and time of year. Some examples are tub gurnard spawning period takes place from December to March, and red gurnard spawning takes place from September to May.