A REVIEW OF THE BERYCOID FISHES OF JAPAN. 



By David Starr Jordan and Hknry W. Fowler, 



Of tJie LcUuid Stavfvrd Junior Unirer,slti/. 



The present paper contains a review of the species of Berycithe and 

 related families, found in the waters of Japan, It is based on material 

 collected by Jordan and Snyder in the summer of 1900, and on material 

 in the United States National Museum, largely collected by the United 

 States Fish Commission steamer A/hat/'om in 1900. 



The Berycoid fishes, as a whole, may ])e characterized by the presence 

 of thoracic ventral fins, each with one s[)ine and usually seven soft 

 ra3\s; head usually with conspicuous mucous cavities; air ))ladder in 

 some species {Beri/,r^ Ilolocentrus^ retaining- its duct through life, 

 in others {TracJiicJitJiys^ PolymLrhi) losing it with age; vertebra^ in 

 species examined 24 to 30; shoulder girdle and pharyngeals normal, 

 the post-temporal not fused with the cranium; no suborbital stay. 

 The Beryces, as thus characterized, form a natural group among the 

 Percomorphi, allied to Percoidei and Scombroidei, but marked as a 

 whole by the occasional retention of the archaic characters of the per- 

 sistent air duct and the increased number of ventral ra3's, both char- 

 acters derived from the Haplomi, their immediate ancestors and pred- 

 ecessors in the rocks as fossils. The group is a ver^' old one in 

 geologic time, older than any of the other Acanthopteri, the allies of 

 Bcry.r, being among the earliest spin3'-ra3'ed fishes known. In the 

 deep-sea forms the spinous dorsal is afc:arcel3' developed, and the scales 

 are usually either cvcloid or wanting. In the species of tropical 

 shores the spinous armature of fins and scales is better developed than 

 in most of the percomorphous fishes. All, except Aphredoderus^ are 

 marine fishes, inhabiting the tropical shores or the abysses of the 

 ocean. The pertinence of Pol3"mixiidt« to this group has been ques- 

 tioned, but according to Boulenger its skeleton is essentialh' Ber3'coid, 

 although its curious barbels are almost exactl}' like those of MuUus 

 and Upetteux.. 



We remove the Zeida? from the Berycoids, although having similar 

 ventrals, because no other distinct likeness appears, and the post-temp- 

 oral is attached to the skull as in the Chtiitodonts. The Monocentridfe 



Proceedings U. S, National Museum, Vol- XXV|-No. 1306. 

 Proc. N. M. vol. xxvi— 02 1 i 



