89. APOGONID.E APOGON. 
563 
Family LXXXIX.— APOGONID^. 
Body oblong, elevated, covered with usually large, loose, deciduous 
scales, which are striated and ctenoid or sometimes cycloid; cheeks 
scaly; lateral line continuous; cleft of mouth wide, oblique; villi- 
form teeth on jaws aud vomer; canines sometimes present; preopercle 
commonly with a double ridge, its edge entire or slightly serrated; 
lower pharyngeals separate, with sharp teeth ; pseudobranchite present ; 
brauchiostegals 6 or 7. Dorsal fins well separated, the first with C or 7 
rather strong spines ; anal fin short, usually with 2 spines ; ventral fins 
thoracic, I, 5. Fishes mostly of the Eastern seas, some of them in fresh 
waters. Genera about 10; species about 120. 
{Perddce part: group Apogonina Gunther, i, 222-250.) 
a. Brauchiostegals?; no canines; no recumbent dorsal spine; palatine teeth present ; 
anal spines 2. {ApogoninoR.) 
b. Lateral line commencing at the head ; preopercle with a double ridge ; teeth on 
the palatines Apogon, 291. 
291. — APOGO]¥ Lac^pMe. 
King of the Mtillets. 
(Amia Grouow, not of Linnseus.) 
(Lac6pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss. iii, 411, 1802 : ty^je Apogon ruber Lac. = MuUus imberbis L. = 
Apogon rex-muUorum C. & V.) 
Body oblong, compressed, covered with very large ctenoid scales. 
Lateral line continuous. Head large; mouth wide, oblique, the max- 
illary extending to below the middle of the large eye ; villiform teeth 
on jaws, vomer, and iialatines ; no canine teeth ; preopercle with a 
double ridge, entire or somewhat serrate ; opercle with a spine behind. 
Gill-rakers rather long. Dorsal spines 6 or 7, strong ; second dorsal 
remote, short ; anal with 2 spines, the second much the longer, the 
soft part similar to the soft dorsal ; pectorals and ventrals moderate. 
{a-wyu)v, without beard ; thus distinguished from the bearded muUet, 
2Iullus.) 
a. Edges of preopercle serrulate ; scales very large. {Apogon.) 
8§9. A. americanus Castelnau. 
Violaceous, scales all with dark points; a dark spot on opercle. Body 
comj)aratively elongate, little elevated ; jaws equal ; muzzle short ; eye 
large, 3^ in head ; preopercle very finely denticulated. Second dorsal 
spine stoutest, as high as the third; pectorals nearly reaching anal. 
