Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 2095 



stay present, thin ;ind flattish; mouth small, terminal; jaws with bands 

 of slender, simple teeth; no teeth on vomer or palatines; gill openings 

 narrow, restricted to the sides, the membranes being broadly joined to the 

 isthmus and shoulder girdle ; brauchiostegals 6 ; gills 3^; pseudobranchiaj 

 present; dorsal fins 2, the anterior part of flexible spines, which, in the 

 adult, are sometimes hidden hy a fleshy hump, in 1 subfamily entirely 

 wanting ; soft dorsal usually opposite the anal and similar to it ; caudal 

 flu rounded, free from the dorsal and anal ; ventrals thoracic, rudimentary, 

 forming the bony center of a sucking disk ; pectorals short, placed low, 

 their bases broad and procurrent; pyloric cajca numerous; intestine elon- 

 gate; vertebrai 12 + 16, the skeleton feebly ossified. Genera 7; species 8; 

 inhabiting the northern seas of both hemispheres. By means of the ad- 

 hesive ventral disk these fishes are enabled to attach themselves very 

 firmly to rocks or other objects. They feed on Crustacea, worms, small 

 fishes, and plants. The young of Cyclopterus bear a close resemblance to 

 Liparis, an evidence of the common origin of the 2 groups, which is borne 

 out by the anatomj . (Discoboli; group Cydoptcrina, Gunthek, Cat., iii, 

 154 to 158.) 



CyCLOPTERIN^ : 



I. Spinous dorsal present, sometimes concealed in adult. 

 a. Barbels none; disk anterior, below the bead. 



b. Skin armed with largo tubercles. 



c. Larger tubercles on body in rows well separated ; spinous dorsal tin obsolete 



with age. Cyclopterus, 778. 



cc. Larger tubercles not in rows, crowded closely together ; spinous dorsal lin 



usually not disappearing with age. Eumicroteemus, 779. 



hb. Skin naked or with scattered, slender spines; no lateral line. 



Lethotremus, 780. 

 aa. Barbels present about the mouth; disk below the abdomen; tubercles on sides 

 minute. CYCLOPTEROmES, 781. 



Liparopsin^: * 



II. Spinous dorsal wholly wanting. 



e. Dorsal short, opposite anal, of 9 or 10 rays; skin wholly smooth, without bony 

 tubercles. Cyclopterichthys, 782. 



ee. Dorsal long, beginning near middle of back; skin with bony tubercles. 



LiPAEOPS, 783. 



suborbital is thin and broadens as it extends back to the preopercle. The interopercle is 

 more blade-like than in the Liparididce. On 1 genus the pores around the mouth are 

 tabular and form barbels. In this important paper are valuable notes on the osteology 

 and embryology of the CijcUpteridce and Liparididce. 



* The Liparopsinoe, regarded as a separate family (Liparopsidce) is thus defined by 

 Mr. Garmau: 



"The deterioration of the first or spinous dorsal seen in the Lnmpfish, has apparently 

 proceeded so far in the Liparopsidce as to cause the disappearance of that fin. Plach of 

 the 2 genera in the family has but a single dorsal, the i)08terior. In one genus the flu is 

 short and situated near the caudal, in the other the fin begins near the middle of the 

 back and extends nearly to the origin of the caudal. The genera are further distin- 

 guished by dorsal tubercles in one case, and by a naked skin in tlio other. The shape is 

 somewhat like that of the Diodons, bulky, thick, broad, and longer forward, in the sec- 

 tion containing the visceral cavity, and short and greatly reduced in size behind it. The 

 head is short, oroad, and thick, the snout short and blunt, the mouth terminal, the teeth 

 subconical, the eyes lateral, the branchiostegal rays 6 in number, the gill openings 

 narrow, the gills 3J, the pseudobranchise small, all, with disk, pectorals, and caudal, as m 

 the Cycloptendce. Until recently this family has been knowu only from the North 

 Pacific. A short time ago a second species of Cyclopterichthys was named by Vaillant 

 from a sketch of a fish taken in the Straits of Magellan, which would extend the distri- 

 bution to the Antarctic regions." {Liparopsidce, Garman, Discoboli, 40, 1892.) 



