FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 79, NO. 3 



order Lophliformes 



suborder Lophioidel 



suborder Antennarioidei 



suborder Ceratioidel 



Figure 41. — Cladogram showing proposed phylogenetic relationships of major subgroups of the Lophiiformes. Note that not all sister- 

 group relationships are supported by sufficient data. Black bars and numbers refer to synapomorphic features discussed in the text: 

 1) Posteromedial process of vomer emerging from ventral surface as a laterally compressed, keellike structure; 2) Postmaxillary process 

 of premaxilla spatulate; 3) Opercle reduced; 4) Ectopterygoid triradiate; 5) Interhyal with a medial, posterolaterally directed process; 

 6) Illicial pterygiophore and pterygiophore of third dorsal fin spine with highly compressed, bladelike dorsal expansions; 7) Posterior- 

 most branchiostegal ray exceptionally large; 81 Gill teeth tiny, arranged in a tight cluster at apex of pedicellike tooth plates; 

 9) Gill filaments of gill arch I absent; 10) Illicial bone, when retracted, lying within an illicial cavity. Drawings courtesy of 

 The American Museum of Natural History. 



4) Ectopterygoid triradiate, a dorsal process 

 overlapping the medial surface of the meta- 

 pterygoid (this character state is present in 

 Tetrabrachium, Lophichthys, and all anten- 

 nariids examined; in tl e batrachoidids and 

 other lophiiforms examined this element is 

 crescent shaped, making no contact with the 

 metapterygoid). 



That the Antennariidae, Tetrabrachiidae, 

 Lophichthyidae, and Brachionichthyidae consti- 

 tute a monophyletic group is supported by two 

 synapomorphies: 



5) Interhyal with a medial, posterolaterally di- 

 rected process that comes into contact with 

 the respective preopercle (this character state 

 is present in Tetrabrachium , Lophichthys, 

 Brachionichthys, and all antennariids exam- 

 ined; in the batrachoidids and all other lophi- 



iforms examined this interhyal process is 

 absent); 

 6) Illicial pterygiophore and pterygiophore of 

 the third dorsal fin spine with highly com- 

 pressed, bladelike dorsal expansions (this 

 character state is present in Tetrabrachium, 

 Lophichthys, Brachionichthys, and all anten- 

 nariids examined; in other lophiiforms exam- 

 ined these dorsal expansions are absent; this 

 character does not extend to batrachoidids). 



Gregory (1933:388, fig. 264) speculated that the 

 membranous connection between the spines of the 

 dorsal fin of Brachionichthys represents a primi- 

 tive feature: "This is the most primitive condition 

 among the typical pediculates" (= lophiiforms). 

 On this assumption, in addition to a statement 

 that the skeleton oi Brachionichthys is relatively 

 primitive in appearance, Gregory (1933:387) con- 

 cluded that ".. .Brachionichthys is much less spe- 



414 



