Жасыл балықтар тұқымдасы

Family of fishes

Automatic taxobox
| name = Scats
| fossil range =
| image = Scatophagus argus (Wroclaw zoo) 2. JPG
| image caption = Scatophagus argus
| taxon = Scatophagidae
| authority = Gill, 1883
| subdivision ranks = Genera
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms = Prenidae Whiley, 1956
| synonyms ref = Other workers have classified them with the surgeonfishes in the order Acanthuriformes or as incertae sedis within the series Eupercaria. The name of the family comes from its type genus Scatophagus and this is a compound of skatos meaning "dung" and phaga which means to eat, a reference to this species purported taste for human faeces.

Scatophagidae fishes, the scats, have highly compressed, oblong bodies. The dorsal profile of the head rises steeply to the nape, they have a rounded snout, as is the space between the eyes. The small mouth is horizontal, and cannot be protruded, and has several rows of small bristle like teeth on the jaws. There are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. The dorsal fin have 11 12 robust spines and 16 18 soft rays, the first spine lies flat and there is a deep incision between the spiny and soft rayed parts of the fin. The anal fin has 4 robust spines and 13 16 soft rays and the relatively small pectoral fins have 16 17 rays. The caudal fin may be truncate or weakly emarginate. although it is rounded in juveniles. The head and the body are covered with tiny ctenoid scales and these reach the soft rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins. There are no spines or serrations on the opercular bones. They are silvery or greenish in colour marked with darker spots or bars. The scats vary in maximum total length from for Selenotoca papuensis up to for Selenotoca multifasciata. Scats are found in harbours, brackish estuaries, and the lower reaches of freshwater streams.