50 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 124 



the separate anterior spinous dorsal is lost, and there is a single long 

 dorsal fin that may be made up entirely of soft rays {Congrogadus), 

 almost entirely of spines (Notograptus) , or partly of each (Blenniidae) . 

 The anteriormost dorsal ray is almost always far forward, and gener- 

 ally there are no predorsal bones (Smith and Bailey, 1961); however, 

 the notothenioid genus Cheimarrichthys does have the basal percoid 

 number of three predorsals, and Congrogadus has two. 



The anal fin of the Blennioidei rarely contains pungent spines 

 (see, however, Makushok, 1958, p. 34), though one or two unseg- 

 mented anterior rays frequently are present. Among the percoids 

 there is usually a more or less constant relationship between the 

 anterior anal pterygiophores and the first hemal spine. Among 

 percoids with large, pungent anal spines, the two or three first anal 

 pterygiophores frequently are fused; however, in forms with smaller 

 anal spines, such as Acanthoclinus or the opistognathid Gnathypops, 

 they remain separate. In Acanthoclinus, the first anal pterygiophore 

 extends up behind the first hemal spine; in Gnathypops, the first 

 pterygiophore is short, and the second extends up behind the anterior- 

 most hemal spine. This more or less constant relationship between 

 the anterior anal pterygiophores and the first hemal spine is main- 

 tained in the members of the family Tripterygiidae, Clinidae, and 

 Blenniidae that I have examined; however, it is lost in the other 

 groups of Blennioidei. Most frequently, e.g., in the Parapercidae, 

 Trachinidae, and Bathymasteridae, the first few anal pterygiophores 

 are short and well forward of the first hemal spine. The great variation 

 that may occur even within a group has been demonstrated by 

 Makushok (1958, p. 29) for zoarceoid families. 



Posteriorly, the dorsal and anal usually approach and sometimes 

 are connected membranously with the caudal fin. Only in some of 

 the clinine clinids is there a lengthy, constricted caudal peduncle 

 behind the dorsal and anal. Where it does occur, it is supported, as 

 elsewhere, by expanded, bladelike neural and hemal arches — e.g., 

 among the ammod3^toids (Gosline, 1963). 



Caudal fin and caudal skeleton. — In the Blennioidei, the 

 fin is generally rounded or it is brushlike. Exceptions may be divided 

 into two categories. One contains certain of the secondarily pelagic 

 forms that have a somewhat lunate caudal fin, e.g., the tropical 

 blenny Runula. The other is made up of certain basal notothenioids 

 with bilobed tails. Certain species of Parapercis (Can tw ell, 1964) 

 and possibly Cheimarrichthys fall into this category. 



As so often happens among fishes with rounded caudal fins, the 

 number of branched rays becomes variable (Makushok, 1958). In the 

 Blennioidei, the notothenioid Parapercidae is the only family that 



