The spikefishes (family Triacanthodidae) are ray-finned fishes related to the pufferfishes and triggerfishes. They live in deep waters; more than, but above the continental shelves. They are found in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and the west-central Pacific.[1]
The spikefishes are quite variable in form, with some species having tubular snouts (greatly elongated in Halimochirurgus and Macrorhamphosodes), and others have spoon-like teeth for scraping the scales off other fishes. Depending on the exact species involved, they reach a maximum length of about 5cm-22cmcm (02inches-09inchescm).
While spikefish are shaped in a wide variety of different colors, sizes, and shapes, they can characterized by their similarities of having a dense body with relatively thick skin, a large amount of tiny yet spiky scales, two dorsal fins of which the first contains six spines and twelve to eighteen soft spines along the second, a rounded caudal fin, small and terminal mouth with at least 10 average sized conical teeth.
The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, was first proposed in 1862 by the American biologist Theodore Gill[2] and, in 1968, James C. Tyler classified it within the suborder Triacanthoidei alongside the Triacanthidae, as well as proposing the subfamily Hollardinae.[3] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this as suborder of the order Tetraodontiformes.[4]
The spikefish family, Triacanthodidae, is divided into two subfamilies and eleven genera as follows: