5/2 TELEOSTEI CHAP. 



(STOMIATINAE). Stomias, Macrostomias, Echiostoma, Opostomias, Pachystomias, 

 Photonectes, Malacosteus, Thaumatostomias, Photostomias. 



This family, comprising about 55 species, has a world-wide 

 distribution, but most of the known forms have been obtained 

 from the Atlantic ; some of the species occur both in the Atlantic 

 and the Indo-Pacific. Chauliodus, Astronesthes, and Stomias are 

 among the fishes with the most formidable dentition. 



Fam. 20. Gonorhynchidae. Margin of the upper jaw formed 

 by the praemaxillaries and the maxillaries, the latter articulated 

 above the former to the ethmoid. Supraoccipital in contact with 

 the frontals, widely separating the small parietals ; opercular 

 bones well developed ; symplectic present. Basis cranii simple. 

 Mouth small and toothless, inferior, surrounded by thick, fringed 

 lips. Four branchiostegal rays. Head and body entirely covered 

 with small spiny scales. Praecaudal vertebrae with strong 

 parapophyses, to the extremity of which slender ribs and epi- 

 pleurals are attached. No postclavicle. Pectoral fins inserted 

 low down, folding like the ventrals; latter with 10 rays. 



FIG. 347. Gonorhynchus greyi. J nat. size. (After Valenciennes. ) 



The single existing species, Gonorhynchus greyi, is charac- 

 terised by an elongate, cylindrical body, a pointed projecting 

 snout bearing a single barbel, short dorsal and anal fins, the 

 former opposed to the ventrals, and the gill-membranes broadly 

 attached to the isthmus. Teeth are present on the pterygoid 

 and hyoid bones. No suborbita larch. Vertebrae, 45 + 20. Air- 

 bladder absent. Its distribution is a very wide one, the species 

 being on record from the coasts of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. 



The genus Notogoneus, from the freshwater Eocene beds of 

 France and North America, has been referred to this family 

 by Cope, and has been shown by A. S. Woodward to be closely 

 related to Gonorhynchus, differing only in the absence of teeth 

 on the palate and tongue, and in the more forward position of 

 the dorsal fin. The genus Charitosomus, with several species 



