504 Suborder Jugulares 



inhabitant of the seas of Japan, and Anema monopterygium in 

 New Zealand. 



Uranoscopus peruzzii, an extinct star-gazer, has been de- 

 scribed from the Pliocene of Tuscany. 



FIG. 445. A Star-gazer Ariscopus iburius Jordan & Snyder. Iburi, Japan. 



The Dragonets: Callionymidae. Remotely allied to the Ura- 

 noscopida is the interesting family of dragonets, or Callionymida. 

 These are small scaleless fishes with flat heads, the preopercle 

 armed with a strong spine, the body bearing a general resem- 

 blance to the smaller and smoother Cottidcs. The gill-openings 

 are very small, the ventral fins wide apart. The colors are 

 highly variegated, the fins are high, often filamentous, and the 

 sexes differ much in coloration and in the development of the 

 fins. The species are especially numerous on the shores of 

 Japan, where Callionymus valenciennesi, Callionymus beniteguri, 

 and Calliurichthys japonicus are food-fishes of some slight impor- 

 tance. Others are found in the East Indies, and several large 

 and handsome forms are taken in the Mediterranean. Calliony- 

 mus draco, the dragonet, or "sculpin," reaches the coast of Eng- 

 land. In America but three species have been taken. These 

 are dredged in deep water in the East Indies. In other parts 

 of the world these fantastic little creatures are shore-fishes, 

 creeping about in the shallow bays. Species of Synchiropus, 

 colored like the coral sands, abound in the Polynesian coral 

 reefs. 



A fossil species of Callionymus (C. macrocephalus) are found 

 in the Miocene of Croatia. 



The family of Rhyacichthyida is a small group of Asiatic 

 fishes allied to the Callionymida, but less elongate and differing 

 in minor details. They are found not in the sea, but in mountain 

 streams. Rhyacichthys (formerly called by the preoccupied 

 name Platyptera) is the principal genus. 



