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The hypsigenyine wrasses or tuskfishes are saltwater fish of the subfamily Hypsigenyinae, a subgroup of the wrasse family (Wrasse). The group is circumglobal, being found in almost all the of world's shallow tropical marine waters, although some species are also found in temperate zones. The former family Odacidae, containing the cales and weed whitings, is also now known to be nested within this subfamily.
Westneat & Alfaro (2005) and Hughes et al (2022) found that the hogfish ( Lachnolaimus maximus) is the sister group to all other hypsigenyine wrasses. However, neither study examined the natal wrasse ( Anchichoerops natalensis), which was recovered as the actual sister group to all other hypsigenyine wrasses by Balwin et al (2023). Hypsigenyine wrasses exhibit several ancestral features shared with perciforms, but were subsequently lost in more derived wrasses. One example is the presence of vomerine teeth. Hypsigenyine wrasses also have a derived trait, which is phyllodont dentition of the pharyngeal teeth, ie, these teeth develop stacked on top of each other, with only the uppermost teeth in the stack emerging.
Unlike most wrasse groups, hypsigenyines are well-represented in the fossil record. The Italian fossil wrasse † Phyllopharyngodon is strongly supported to be a hypsigenyine because it exhibits phyllodont pharyngeal teeth like other members of the tribe, and is about 50 million years old, dating to the Eocene. The fossil genera Labrodon and Trigonodon are abundant in the Miocene of Europe.
Odacine wrasses are found in coastal waters off Southern Australia and New Zealand. They include species that feed on small invertebrates, as well as herbivorous grazers, some of which are able to feed on chemically unpleasant varieties of kelp otherwise unpalatable to fish. (1998). 9780125476652, Academic Press. ISBN 9780125476652
| + ! colspan="2" | Genus !Image | |
| Blue groper Theodore Gill, 1863 | A. viridis | |
| Natal wrasse Barnard, 1927 | ||
| Bodianus Bloch, 1790 | Spotfin hogfish | |
| Choerodon Pieter Bleeker, 1840 | C. cauteroma | |
| Decodon Günther, 1861 | D. puellaris | |
| Hogfish Georges Cuvier, 1829 | Hogfish | |
| Polylepion M. F. Gomon, 1977 | Bleeding wrasse | |
| Pseudodax Pieter Bleeker, 1861 | P. moluccanus | |
| Terelabrus J. E. Randall & Fourmanoir, 1998 | T. rubrovittatus | |
| Odacidae clade | Haletta Whitley, 1947 | H. semifasciata |
| Heteroscarus Castelnau, 1872 | Rainbow cale | |
| Neoodax Castelnau, 1875 | N. balteatus | |
| Odax Valenciennes, 1840 | Greenbone | |
| Parodax Scott, 1976 | ||
| Olisthops Richardson, 1850 | Herring cale | |
| Sheardichthys Whitley, 1947 | S. beddomei | |
| Siphonognathus Richardson, 1858 | S. argyrophanes | |
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