oceanic-panic-panic:

I love phylogenetics because you expect something like this (Tarpon)

To be related to this (Milkfish, or herring in general)

But turns out it’s more closely related to eels (due to a stroke of luck that most of their other relatives presumably died out, therefore their respective orders and only a handful of other make up the extant survivors). (Pic: European Eel)

And you’d expect these (Anthias: Hawk Anthias and Lyretail Anthias)

To be related to this (Chromis, or damselfish in general)

But they’re actually related to groupers (Goliath Grouper)