Liza (fish)


Liza is a genus of mullets from the family Mugilidae. Recent work has suggested that the genus is paraphyletic and its species should be placed in the resurrected genus Planiliza while others should be classified in the traditional genera Mugil and Chelon. Liza is derived from the Spanish word for a grey mullet.

Species

There are currently 20 species classified in the genus Liza:
The grey mullets are all morphologically very similar, making identification and classification problematic. With the advent of molecular biology the relationships within the wider family Mugilidae have been clarified and Liza has been found to be paraphyletic which has led to a new proposals being suggested, with the genus Planiliza being resurrected to include the Indo-Pacific species of Liza and Chelon and Paramugil parmatus while Liza falcipinnis is moved to the new genus Neochelon and the genus Gracilimugil is resurrected for Liza argentea. The result of this is that Liza is regarded as a synonym of Chelon.