Centrarchiformes

Centrarchiformes /sɛnˈtrɑːrkɪfɔːrmiːz/ is an <a href="/facts/Order_(biology)/GKLJvIpt">order</a> of <a href="/facts/Actinopterygii/3PNaXXmJ">ray-finned fish</a>, previously included amongst the <a href="/facts/Perciformes/DJeXbX7W">perciformes</a>. The order Centrachiformes is not recognized in the 5th Edition (2016) of <a href="/facts/Fishes_of_the_World/DRNmGe54">Fishes of the World</a>, but is accepted on the <a href="/facts/World_Register_of_Marine_Species/lfmyq6bH">World Register of Marine Species</a> in November 2023, Fishbase, and <a href="/facts/Eschmeyer%2527s_Catalog_of_Fishes/fpGIhCaq">Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes</a>.
Many centrarchiforms look essentially <a href="/facts/Perch/RmMxhGBa">perch</a>-like, featuring a stocky build and a spine-bearing dorsal fin, and range in size from 2.5 cm in length (for <a href="/facts/Gulf_Coast_pygmy_sunfish/xKljzfAx">Elassoma gilberti</a>), to 1.8 meters for the <a href="/facts/Murray_cod/YQSNb6Rz">Maccullochella peelii</a>. 
The earliest fossils of this group are of <a href="/facts/Percichthys/ovPvAJbm">Percichthys</a> from the <a href="/facts/Early_Paleocene/7kD8PDUv">Early Paleocene</a> of Bolivia, although this status is tentative. If these remains are not of a percichthyid, then the earliest known centrarchiform fossils are of <a href="/facts/Oplegnathidae/BFXEjRDc">oplegnathids</a> from the <a href="/facts/Ypresian/KdIvHqv5">Early Eocene</a> of Antarctica. Phylogenetic inferences suggest that this order diverged from its closest relative, the <a href="/facts/Labriformes/STQJTAwH">Labriformes</a>, during the <a href="/facts/Late_Cretaceous/pcHa4fBg">Late Cretaceous</a>, about 83 million years ago.
Centrarchiformes are widespread worldwide, being found in all temperate and tropical nearshore marine habitats, with freshwater radiations also present on several different continents. The largest family-level diversity within the group is found in the <a href="/facts/Southern_Hemisphere/QfJ4z9L5">Southern Hemisphere</a>, with many families <a href="/facts/Endemism/xt4IpIsl">endemic</a> to the coast of Australia. However, the two most speciose groups of the order are found in freshwater, and are widely separated: freshwater members of the <a href="/facts/Terapontidae/bTpYCDl7">Terapontidae</a> are found in <a href="/facts/Australasia/KCCr5pqh">Australasia</a> and nearby regions, while the <a href="/facts/Centrarchidae/kD2zzavT">freshwater sunfish</a> (including the iconic <a href="/facts/Largemouth_bass/uXWkGAIL">largemouth bass</a>) are found throughout North America.

Centrarchiformes open-in-new

Centrarchiformes