The cutlassfishes are about 45 species of predatory fish in the family Trichiuridae of the order Scombriformes found in seas throughout the world. Fish of this family are long, slender, and generally steely blue or silver in colour, giving rise to their name. They have reduced or absent pelvic and caudal fins, giving them an eel-like appearance, and large fang-like teeth.
Some of the species are known as scabbardfishes or hairtails; others are called frostfishes because they appear in late autumn and early winter, around the time of the first frosts.
Classification
This list of species follows FishBase:
Subfamily Aphanopidinae Gill, 1863
Genus Aphanopus
Aphanopus arigato Parin, 1994
Aphanopus beckeri Parin, 1994
Aphanopus capricornis Parin, 1994
Aphanopus carbo Lowe, 1839 (Black scabbardfish) Aphanopus intermedius Parin, 1983 (Intermediate scabbardfish) Aphanopus microphthalmus Norman, 1939 (Smalleye scabbardfish) Aphanopus mikhailini Parin, 1983 (Mikhailin's scabbardfish) Genus Benthodesmus Goode & Bean, 1882 Benthodesmus elongatus, Clarke, 1879 (Elongate frostfish) Benthodesmus macrophthalmus, Parin & Becker, 1970 (Bigeye frostfish) Benthodesmus neglectus, Parin, 1976 (Neglected frostfish) Benthodesmus oligoradiatus, Parin & Becker, 1970 (Sparse-rayed frostfish) Benthodesmus pacificus, Parin & Becker, 1970 (North Pacific frostfish) Benthodesmus papua, Parin, 1978 (Papuan frostfish) Benthodesmus simonyi, Steindachner, 1891 (Simony's frostfish) Benthodesmus suluensis, Parin, 1976 (Philippine frostfish) Benthodesmus tenuis, Günther, 1877 (Slender frostfish) Benthodesmus tuckeri, Parin & Becker, 1970 (Tucker's frostfish) Benthodesmus vityazi, Parin & Becker, 1970 (Vityaz' frostfish) Subfamily Lepidopodinae, Gill, 1863 Genus Assurger Assurger anzac Alexander, 1917 (Razorback scabbardfish) Genus Eupleurogrammus Eupleurogrammus glossodon, (Bleeker, 1860) (Longtooth hairtail) Eupleurogrammus muticus, (Gray, 1831) (Smallhead hairtail) Genus Evoxymetopon Evoxymetopon macrophthalmus Chakraborty, Yoshino & Iwatsuki, 2006 Evoxymetopon moricheni Fricke, Golani & Appelbaum-Golani, 2014 Evoxymetopon poeyi Günther, 1887 (Poey's scabbardfish) Evoxymetopon taeniatus Gill, 1863 (Channel scabbardfish) Genus Lepidopus Lepidopus altifrons, Parin & Collette, 1993 (Crested scabbardfish) Lepidopus calcar, Parin & Mikhailin, 1982 (Hawaiian ridge scabbardfish) Lepidopus caudatus, (Euphrasen, 1788) (Silver scabbardfish) Lepidopus dubius, Parin & Mikhailin, 1981 (Doubtful scabbardfish) Lepidopus fitchi , Rosenblatt & Wilson, 1987 (Fitch's scabbardfish) Lepidopus manis, Rosenblatt & Wilson, 1987 (Ghost scabbardfish) Subfamily Trichiurinae Rafinesque, 1810 Genus Demissolinea Demissolinea novaeguineensis, Burhanuddin & Iwatsuki, 2003 (New Guinean hairtail) Genus Lepturacanthus Lepturacanthus pantului, (Gupta, 1966) (Coromandel hairtail) Lepturacanthus roelandti (Bleeker, 1860) Lepturacanthus savala, (Cuvier, 1829) (Savalani hairtail) Genus Tentoriceps Tentoriceps cristatus, (Klunzinger, 1884) (Crested hairtail) Genus Trichiurus Trichiurus auriga, Klunzinger, 1884 (Pearly hairtail) Trichiurus australis Chakraborty, Burhanuddin & Iwatsuki, 2005 Trichiurus brevis, Wang & You, 1992 (Chinese short-tailed hairtail) Trichiurus gangeticus, Gupta, 1966 (Ganges hairtail) Trichiurus lepturus, Linnaeus, 1758 (Largehead hairtail) Trichiurus margarites, Li, 1992 Trichiurus nanhaiensis, Wang & Xu, 1992 Trichiurus nickolensis, Burhanuddin & Iwatsuki, 2003 (Australian short-tailed hairtail) Trichiurus russelli, Dutt & Thankam, 1966 (Short-tailed hairtail)