Centracanthidae is a small family of fishes in the order Perciformes

Perciformes

The Perciformes, also called the Percomorphi or Acanthopteri, is one of the largest orders of vertebrates, containing about 40% of all bony fish. Perciformes means perch-like. They belong to the class of ray-finned fish and comprise over 7,000 species found in almost all aquatic environments...

, known as picarels. They are found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 and Mediterranean. The anal fin has three sharp spines, hence the name, from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 kentron meaning "sharp point" and akantha meaning "thorn". Despite the similarity of the English or common name, it is unrelated to the pickerel

Esox

Esox is a genus of freshwater fish, the only living genus in the family Esocidae — the esocids which were endemic to North America, Europe and Eurasia during the Paleogene through present.The type species is E. lucius, the northern pike...

 or northern pike.

Genera and species

There are nine species in two genera:

• Genus Centracanthus
  • Curled picarel, Centracanthus cirrus Rafinesque
    Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz
    Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, was a nineteenth-century polymath who made notable contributions to botany, zoology, the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America and Mesoamerican ancient linguistics.Rafinesque was eccentric, and is often portrayed as an...
    
    , 1810.
• Genus Spicara
  • Bigeye picarel, Spicara alta (Osório, 1917).
  • Spicara australis (Regan, 1921).
  • Spicara axillaris (Boulenger
    George Albert Boulenger
    George Albert Boulenger FRS was a Belgian-British zoologist who identified over 2000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles and amphibians.-Life:...
    
    , 1900).
  • Blotched picarel, Spicara maena (Linnaeus
    Carolus Linnaeus
    Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
    
    , 1758).
    • (Synonymous with Spicara flexuosa Rafinesque
      Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz
      Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, was a nineteenth-century polymath who made notable contributions to botany, zoology, the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America and Mesoamerican ancient linguistics.Rafinesque was eccentric, and is often portrayed as an...
      
      , 1810.)
  • Spicara martinicus (Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes was a French zoologist.Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. Valenciennes' study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology...
    
    , 1830).
  • Blackspot picarel, Spicara melanurus (Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes
    Achille Valenciennes was a French zoologist.Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. Valenciennes' study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasitology...
    
    , 1830).
  • Blacktail picarel, Spicara nigricauda (Norman, 1931).
  • Spicara smaris (Linnaeus
    Carolus Linnaeus
    Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
    
    , 1758).