Family Elopidae' 



SAMUEL F. HILDEBRAND2 



Characters. Body slender, more or less compressed laterally; belly rounded; ordi- 

 nary scales covering median line. Eye large, with adipose tissue in large examples. 

 Mouth large, terminal, or superior. Maxillaries large, in about three pieces, ex- 

 tending far beyond eye in adults. Premaxillaries not protractile. Lower jaw with 

 an elongate bony plate between its branches. Teeth all small, often bluntly villiform; 

 teeth present on jaws, vomer, palatines, pterygoids, tongue, and basibranchials. Bran- 

 CHiosTEGALs about 23—35. GiLL MEMBRANES Separate, free from isthmus. Opercular 

 BONES with membranous borders. Gill rakers moderately long. Last several segments 

 of Spinal column directed upward toward base of upper lobe of caudal. Lateral 

 line present. Scales large or small, with membranous borders; missing on head; the 

 median row in front of dorsal neither enlarged nor modified. Dorsal fin over or 

 somewhat behind pelvics. Caudal forked. Pectorals and Pelvics similar, each with 

 a rather long axillary scale. 



Remarks. The members of this family are characterized by the presence of the 

 bony gular plate between the arms of the lower jaw, the numerous branchiostegals 

 (23—35), ^""^ ^^^ large terminal or superior mouth. 



The genera Tarpon and Elops (pp. 112, 123) sometimes have been assigned to 

 two families, Megalopidae and Elopidae. However, the two genera agree in so many 

 seemingly basic characters — the gular plate, numerous branchiostegals, the dentition, 

 the large maxillaries, and the primitive character of the caudal skeleton — that it seems 

 desirable to treat them as one family. 



The members of the Elopidae generally are considered to be among the most 

 archaic of existing teleosts. Their antiquity, particularly as indicated by their skulls, 

 has been fully discussed (ftn. 3). 



I. Edited and emended by George S. Myers, Henry B. Bigelow, and Yngve H. Olsen. 

 z. August 15, 1883-March 16, 1949. 



Ill 



