SOME OSTEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF 

 MODERN LOWER TELEOSTEAN FISHES ' 



By WILLIAM A. GOSLINE 



Professor of Zoology, University of Hawaii 



INTRODUCTION 



The classification of modern lower teleostean fishes has been 

 erected piecemeal, and the interrelationships of many of the groups 

 remain unknown. That the structure of some of these groups sug- 

 gests that they are systematically quite isolated from others is hardly 

 a sufficient excuse for neglecting the study of teleostean phylogeny. 



There would seem to be several possible ways of investigating 

 lower teleostean relationships. One is a reevaluation of existing litera- 

 ture on the subject, but although this has been attempted repeatedly 

 during the last 30 years, no material advance has resulted. Appar- 

 ently further knowledge of the fishes themselves is needed. 



The new information that might be expected to bear most cogently 

 on teleostean phylogeny is that to be derived from paleontology'. 

 However, for primarily technical reasons knowledge of fossil fishes 

 is slow in forthcoming, and the nature of the fossil record is such 

 that many crucial data will probably never be forthcoming at all. 

 Thus a good proportion of teleostean classification will always have 

 to depend upon such information as can be gathered from modern 

 fishes. In any event, the ichthyologist working on existing forms can 

 do much to point out what fishes and what structural features need 

 particular attention if they ever are located among fossils. 



In work with modern fishes there are two possible approaches to 

 phylogenetic studies. One is the investigation of individual groups. 

 In broad-based studies of this type, such as that of Makushok (1958) 

 on the northern blennioid fishes, much becomes evident regarding the 

 derivation of the group. 



1 About half of the work on the caudal skeleton reported below was done in 

 the British Museum (Natural History). The rest of the paper was prepared 

 in the U. S. National Museum. The author wishes to acknowledge his indebted- 

 ness to the staffs of these institutions for the facilities, and to the Guggenheim 

 Foundation for the Fellowship, which have made this work possible. 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 142, NO. 3 



