no. 3G47 PERCIFORM FISHES — GOSLINE 17 



Suborder Ophidioidei 



The suborder Ophidioidei (treated as an order by Mead, Bertel- 

 sen, and Cohen [1964, p. 580] without comment), as generally 

 understood, contains the fishes included in the families Brotulidae, 

 Aphyonidae, Ophidiidae, Pyramodontidae, and Carapidae. To these 

 I add the family Gadopsidae for reasons dealt with below. 



The suborder may be defined as follows: pel vies, when present, 

 of one or two filamentous rays on each side, originating ahead of the 

 pectoral fins; dorsal and anal long, without spines except in Gadopsis, 

 the rays more numerous than the vertebrae between them; one or 

 more of the first few ribs usually expanded. 



To the end of the last century, the ophidioids, along with the 

 gadoids, blennioids, and other fishes with anterior pelvics, generally 

 were placed in an assemblage known as "Jugulares." In 1903b, 

 Regan concluded (p. 460) "that the Blennioid fishes [in which Regan 

 at that time included the ophidioids] are modified Acanthopterygii, 

 but that the Gadoids have originated from some less specialized 

 stock, and that the absence of non-articulated fin-rays, the large 

 number of rays in the ventrals, and the lack of direct attachment of 

 the pelvic bones to the clavicles, taken together must be regarded as 

 primitive characters." Between 1903 and 1966 (Greenwood, et al., 

 1966) this separation of the gadoids from the blennioids and ophi- 

 diods generally has been accepted. 



In 1903b, as noted, and again in 1912d, Regan included the ophi- 

 dioids in his perciform suborder Blennioidea. In 1929, however, he 

 segregated them as a separate perciform suborder "Ophidioidea." 

 The later allocation appears to me to be correct. 



The clarity of the distinction between the percoids and the ophi- 

 diods, however, is obscured considerably by the Australian genus 

 Gadopsis, a morphological intermediate usually placed among the 

 percoids but herein assigned to the ophidioids. 



In my opinion, the basic specializations of the ophidioid fishes lie 

 along two probably interrelated lines. One involves locomotion and 

 the other sensory systems. The presumed nature of these will be 

 discussed before dealing with general characters. 



In the basal percoids (see p. 5), there are somewhat more fin rays 

 than vertebrae, but the relationship is indeterminate (Francois, 

 1959). Gadopsis shows a fairly typical condition, with 28 soft dorsal 

 rays whose pterygiophores extend downward over 25 neural spines 

 and with 18 soft anal rays under 14 hemal spines (in the X-rayed 

 ANSP specimen). The other ophidioids, instead of going the usual 

 way of elongate percoid derivatives in developing an exact 1 : 1 re- 

 lationship between soft dorsal and anal rays and vertebrae, have 



280-S35— 6S 2 



