FAMILY MULLIDAE — LACHNER 6 



2a. Upper jaw toothless. Vomer and palatines form a broad palatal patch. 



MuUus 1 Linnaeus 

 26. Upper jaw with teeth. 



3a. No teeth on palatines or vomer. 



4a. Teeth in jaws uniserial, large, stout, blunt-tipped, widely spaced, and 



arranged more or less in a regular row Parupeneus Bleeker 



46. Teeth of upper jaw almost always in two rows anteriorly, the teeth of 

 the outer row numbering 1 to 3 on each side, curved and directed 

 posteriorly; teeth in lower jaw almost always in two or more rows; 

 teeth stout, blunt-tipped, and rather widely spaced. 



Pseudupeneus * Bleeker 

 4c. Teeth of jaws small, in a villiform band anteriorly. 



Mulloidichthys Whitley 



36. Vomer with a few blunt teeth; none on palatines; jaws with stout, blunt 



teeth arranged uniserially laterally, and in two or three irregular 



rows anteriorly Upeneichthys * Bleeker 



Genus UPENEUS Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Upeneus Cuvier and Valknciennes, Ilistoire naturelle des poissons, vol. 3, 



p. 448, 1829 (type species, Mullus vitlatus Forsk&l, designated by Bleeker, 



Arch. N^erl. Sci. Nat., vol. 11, pt. 2, p. 333, 1876.) 

 Hypeneus Agassiz, Nomenclatoris zoologici index, p. 190, 1846 (type species, 



Mullus vittatus Forsk§,l, corrected orthography). 

 Upeneoides Bleeker, Verh. Bataviaasch Gen., p. 64, 1849 (type species, Mullus 



vittatus Forskai, designated by Jordan, Genera of fishes, pt. 2, p. 240, 1919). 



This genus is characterized in having the dentition complete, an 

 irregular or triangular patch of small villiform teeth on vomer, an 

 elongate band of such teeth on palatines and in bands of narrow 

 to moderate widths on both jaws. Caudal fin with dark, oblique bars 

 in many species. Body elongate, somewhat compressed, and attain- 

 ing a small size compared with other members of the family. 



Several characters were common to all the species listed in the 

 key below but may not be distinctive generically for they may apply 

 to others in the family: Dorsal spines, VIII-i,8 (also VII-i,8 in 

 three extralimital species), the first spine is minute and likely to be 

 overlooked (see Lachner, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 103, p. 499, 

 1954); scale rows around caudal peduncle 16; scales ctenoid, with 4 

 to 7 radii; scales on soft dorsal, anal, and caudal fins; first elongate 



• Mullus Linnaeus. Systema naturae, ed. 10, p. 299, 1758(type species, Mullus barbaius Linnaeus, designated 

 by Bleeker, Arch. N«eii. Sci. Nat. vol. 11, p. 334, 1876). 



This genus is limited to the Atlantic ocean. 



» Pseudupeneus Bleeker, Versl. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, vol. 14, p. 134, 1862 (type species, Upeneus 

 prayensig Cuvier and Valenciennes). 



This genus is found in the Atlantic Ocean and in the eastern Pacific waters of the Americas. 



8 Upeneichthys Bleeker, Verh. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, vol. 2, p. 7, 1855 (type species, Upeneus porosua 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes). 



This genus is represented by several species in the warmer waters of Australia and New Zealand and 

 probably extending into Polynesia. 



