no. 3647 PERCIFORM FISHES — GOSLINE 57 



erectile pelvic fins well ahead of the pectorals and other typical (if 

 not universal) trachinoid features; however, as already suggested, 

 there is no morphological reason why the opistognathids and acan- 

 thoclinids, as well as the trachinoids, should not have been derived 

 from some basal percoid near the Branchiostegidae. 



In the section that follows, the Blennioidei, essentially the Jugulares 

 of Jordan (1923), will be considered a suborder of the Perciformes. 

 The reasons for this are as follows: First, the members of the Blen- 

 nioidei form a recognizable, definable group of fishes. Second, though 

 I am as dubious about a strictly monophyletic origin for the Blen- 

 nioidei (within the limits of that suborder as herein defined) as those 

 who have investigated the group before me — e.g., Kegan (1913, p. 

 138) and Starks (1923, p. 264, ftn. 1) — it seems possible that the an- 

 cestors of the various groups of Blennioidei lie deep in the basal 

 percoids not too distant from one another. Finally, those who insist 

 on strictly monophyletic groups would be forced, I think, into the 

 alternative of recognizing at least three and probably five separate 

 suborders among the Blennioidei. This possibility has been considered 

 and rejected. 



Classification of the Blennioidei 



In the present section, for the sake of completeness, the classifica- 

 tion of the suborder Blennioidei (= order Jugulares of Jordan, 1923 in 

 part) is carried down to family. For the contents and a definition of 

 this suborder as understood here, see p. 40. 



Superfamily Notothenioidae (= Superfamily Notothenioidae -f- 

 Trachinoidae, in part, of Berg, Regan, and Norman). — Head and 

 anterior part of body usually more or less flattened. One nostril on 

 each side in the nototheniid fishes (sensu lato), two on each side in 

 the rest. Gill openings extending far forward in the Bovictidae and 

 Trichonotidae (sensu lato), the gill membranes attached to one another 

 or broadly attached to the isthmus in the rest. Branchiostegal rays 

 seven in the Bovictidae and most Trichonotidae (sensu lato), six in 

 the rest. Circumorbital series of bones usually movably connected, 

 sometimes incomplete, without a subocular shelf on the second. 

 Front and rear portions of suspensorium firmly attached except in 

 some Trichonotidae (sensu lato). Prootic forming a part of the in- 

 ternal orbital border. Basiphenoid usually present. 



Pectoral actinosts platelike, three or four in number, the upper 

 pectoral ray or rays articulating with the scapula. Pelvic fins, except 

 in some Trichonotidae (sensu lato), with a spine and five branched 

 soft rays, the interspace between pectoral bases usually broader than 

 the distance across one pelvic base. 



The Notothenioidae are the only superfamily of the Blennioidei 

 represented in both tropical and cold waters. Around the Antarctic 



