Jordan and Evcrmann .—Fishes of North America. 1571 



Suborder PHAEYI^^GOGXATHI.* 

 (The Labroid Fishes.) 



Lower pharyngeals fully united; nostrils double; gills 3^, with no slit 

 behind the last. Ventral fins thoracic, each with one spine and five rays; 

 dorsal and anal spines not very strong; scales weakly ctenoid or cycloid; 

 in other respects essentially as in the I'ereoidea. Species mostly of the 

 tropical shores; most of them large fishes of strong dentition and bright 

 colors. {(/xxpvy^, pharynx; yvaOo^ j'l'W, from the large jaw-like 

 pharyngeals.) 



a. Lower pharyngeals T-shaped or y-shaped, their teeth conical or tubercular; teeth in 

 jaws usually not confluent. Species carnivorous ; the sexes often dissimilar. 



Labrid.e, clx. 

 aa. Lower pharyngeals more or less spoon-shaped or basin-shaped, their teeth broadest 

 transversely and truncate, arranged in mosaic; teeth in jaws more or less per- 

 fectly confluent, forming a sort of beak; anal spines 2; dorsal spines 9; scales 

 very large, 22 to 25 in lateral line; vertebra) 10 or 11 + 14 = 24 or 25. Species 

 herbivorous ; the sexes colored alike. ScAEm.?;, clxi. 



Family CLX. LABRID^E.t 



(The Wrasse-Fishes.) 



Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales; lateral line well 

 developed, continuous or interrupted, often angularly bent. Mouth mod- 

 erate, terminal; premasillaries protractile; maxillaries without supple- 

 mental bone, slipping under membranaceous edge of the preorbital; 

 anterior teeth in the jaws usually very strong and canine-like; teeth of 

 the jaws separate or soldered together at base, not forming a continuous 

 lilate; no teeth on vomer or palatines; lower pharyngeals completely 

 united into one bone, without median suture, this bone T-shaped or 

 Y-shaped, its teeth conical or tubercular. Lips thick, longitudinally 

 plicate. Nostrils round, with 2 openings on each side. Dorsal fin con- 

 tinuous, the spinous portion usually long, its spines rather slender, 3 to 20 

 in number, anal similar to soft dorsal, with 2 to 6 spines. Yeutrals 

 thoracic, I, 5, inserted below the pectorals (said to be subjugular in 

 Malacocentrus) . Branchiostegals 5 or 6; pseudobranchia> well developed; 

 gills 3^, the slit behind the last arch small or obsolete; gill membranes 

 somewhat connected, sometimes joined to the narrow isthmus. Air 

 bladder present; no jjyloric Cieca. Genera 60, species 450, chiefly of the 



* Professor Cope regards this suborder as the most specialized or "highest "in the 

 group of fishes. The specialization of the Labroids is, however, reducible to 2 or 3 

 characters, the specialization of the pharyngeal bones, the gills, and, in general, of the 

 pigment cells. In general, they are not less generalized than the majority of the 

 Acanthopteri, and they do not depart so widely from the usual fish type as do the Ped- 

 iculati, Plectognathi or Heternaotnuta. 



t For synonymy iind descriptions of the species of tliis family of fishes see "A review 

 of the labroid fishes of America and Kurope," by David Starr Jordan, in Report U. Su 

 Fish Comm. for 1887, 599-699, pis. i-xi, first published August 26, 1891. 



