Order Gadiformes - Grenadiers, Cods, Hakes and their relatives

The Order Gadiformes includes many commercially important cods, hakes and grenadiers with representatives being similar in general form to the ophidiiforms, but usually have the ventral fins below or only slightly in front of the pectoral fins. The group comprises 13 families that reach their greatest diversity at cool and cold water latitudes; 9 families are known from Australian waters. Well over half the 500 species belong to a single family, the Macrouridae, dominant benthic dwellers in deep slope waters of the world.

Families in Australian waters:

References

Cohen, D.M. 1984. Gadiformes: overview, pp. 259-265 In Moser H.G., W.J. Richards, D.M. Cohen, M.P. Fahay, A.W. Kendall, Jr. & S.L. Richardson (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. Am. Soc. Ichthyol. Herpetol. Spec. Publ. No. 1.

Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto & N. Scialabba. 1990. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. No. 125, v. 10: i-x + 1-442.

Fahay, M.P. & D.F. Markle. 1984. Gadiformes: Development and Relationships, pp. 265-283, In Moser H.G., W.J. Richards, D.M. Cohen, M.P. Fahay, A.W. Kendall, Jr. & S.L. Richardson (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. Am. Soc. Ichthyol. Herpetol. Spec. Publ. No. 1.

Iwamoto, T. 1999. Order Gadiformes. In Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem. Species identification guide for fisheries purposes. The living marine resources of the western central Pacific. Batoid fishes, chimeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome.

Markle, D.F. 1989. Aspects of character homology and phylogeny of the Gadiformes. In Cohen, D.M. (ed). Papers on the Systematics of gadiform Fishes. Sci. Ser., Nat. Hist. Mus. Los Angeles Co. No. 32: i-ix + 1-262.

Richards, W.J. 2006. Order Gadiformes, Ch. 41, In W.J. Richards (ed). Early Stages Of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide For The Western Central North Atlantic. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, 2640 pp.