Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of N'orth America. 855 



the first ray, which equals the fifth dorsal ray. Pectorals short and 

 pointed, reaching beyond origin of dorsal ; ventrala very short. Teeth 

 in hroad, velvet-like bands. (Giinther.) Uniform greenish above, sides 

 golden shining. Caribbean Sea, in deep water ; occasionally taken in 

 Cuba. (Named for Eev. Richard Thomas Lowe, British chaplain in 

 Madeira, an accomplished and careful ichthyologist, author of the Fishes 

 of Madeira.) 



Polymixia loirei,* GOntheii, Cat., i, 17, 1859, Caribbean Sea. 

 Dinemus venttslus, PoEy, MemoriaB, ii, 160, 1860, Cuba. 



Family CXVII. MULLID^. 



(The Surmullets.) 



Body elongate, slightly compressed, covered with large scales which are 

 usually slightly ctenoid ; lateral line continuous, the pores often branched ; 

 large scales on the head ; upper profile of the head more or less parabolic. 

 Moath small, low, subterminal ; teeth mostly small, variously placed; 

 no canines, incisors, nor molars. Premaxillaries somewhat protractile; 

 maxillaries thin, nearly as broad at base as at tip, without supplemental 

 bone, partly hidden by the broad preorbital. Preopercle entire or 

 slightly serrate ; opercle unarmed, or with a single spine. Eye moderate, 

 placed high ; branchiostegals 4 ; pseudobranchire present ; 2 long 

 unbranched barbels at the throat, attached just behind the symphysis of 

 the lower jaw. Dorsal fins 2, remote from each other, both short, the 

 first of 6 to 8 rather high spines, which are depressible in a groove; 

 anal short, similar to the soft dorsal, with 1 or 2 small spines; ventrals 

 thoracic, I, 5. Air bladder usually present, simple. Vertebrje 9-}- 14 = 

 23 ; stomach siphonal ; pyloric coeca about 20. Species about 40, refera- 

 ble to 5 closely related genera, found in all tropical seas, some species 

 straying northward. Majiy of the species are highly valued as food, 

 especially the European Mullus harhatus and Mulhts sttrmuhtu.s. The 

 family is a very natural one and not closely related to any other. It 

 bears some superficial likeness to the Scianidw and the Chiilodijjterida', hut 

 this may not show real affinity. The singular barbels appear also in 

 the Polymixiidw, but in that family the ventral rays are numerous, as in 

 Berycidw. The small number (4) of the branchiostegals is found both in 

 MuUidw and Polymixi'uhv. As the singular hyoid barbels are not likely to 

 have been developed independently in two unrelated groups, we place 

 the MuIJid(r and Polymijciidw together. As the latter group seems to have 

 Berycoid affinities, we leave the Mtdlidw with the Berycoidei, although 

 they show no resemblance to the Berycoids, other than the characters 

 shared with the Polymixiida: {MulUd(v, Giinther, Cat., i, 397-411, 1859.) 



a. Teeth on lower jaw, vomer, and palatines; upper jaw toothless; the bone which forms a 

 downward hook over maxillary strongly developed; intcrorbital space flat and wide; 

 opercle without spine. Mullus, 385 



*This species has been recently iiloiitified by Giinther with the rare but almost cosmopolitan 

 Polymixia uobilig, Lowe. The latter has I). V, 37 or ;!8, a difference beyond the ordinary range 

 of variation. We therefore retain the American species, Foh/mUiu loicei, as provisionally dis- 

 tinct, although Dr. Giinther claims to have a complete series of connecting forms. 



