136 TELEOSTEI : ACANTHOPTERI. — XX. 
vomer and palatines; maxillary broad, not slipping for its whole 
length beneath the preorbital; gill rakers stiff, toothed; gills 
normal ; pseudobranchie large; lower pharyngeals separate, with 
pointed teeth; gill membranes separate; B. normally 6 or 7. 
Preopercle usually serrate; opercle with flat points or spines. Lat- 
eral line present, not on the caudal. Dorsal variously developed ; 
anal shortish, with three spines (these wanting in one genus). V. 
normal. ‘Tail stout, its fin not deeply forked. Vertebre usually 
10 +14 = 24. Intestine short, the stomach cecal, with pyloric 
appendages. Carnivorous fishes, chiefly of the warm seas, often of 
large size, most of them valued as food. Genera about 40, species 
200. This group may be regarded as the most typical among 
the Percoid fishes, and it is perhaps the one nearest the parent 
stock from which the others have sprung. (Serran, the French 
name, from Lat. serra, saw.) 
a. Anal spines 3; dorsal spines 8 to 14. 
6. Dorsal fins separate, or joined at base only; the rays VII to XI-1, 12 to 
14; maxillary without supplemental bone; teeth all villiform, without 
canines. (Latine.) 
c. Caudal lunate; tongue with teeth; preopercle without horizontal spine 
or antrorse hooks. 
z. Dorsal fins separate; spines weak; anal rays about III, 12, the 
spines graduated; lower jaw projecting; base of tongue with 
teeth. gi lay ba SRR Sh, hee Nel ae Roccus, 161. 
zx. Dorsal fins joined; spines strong; anal rays III, 9, the spines 
not graduated; jaws subequal; base of tongue toothless. 
Moxrong, 162. 
bb. Dorsal fin continuous, not deeply notched. 
d. Maxillary without. supplemental bone; canine teeth, if present, on 
sides of jaw as well as in front; no depressible teeth; temporal 
crests on cranium small; gill rakers rather short; lateral line not 
very high; dorsal spines X; anal rays III, 7, supraoccipital 
crest not extending far forward on top of skull, leaving a 
smooth area before it. (Serranine.) 
e. Smooth area on top of cranium very short and small, the supra- 
occipital crest long: C. not lunate, usually ending in 8 points; 
teeth small; head naked above; dorsal rays X, 11. 
CENTROPRISTIS, 163. 
dd. Maxillary with a supplemental bone; canine teeth usually present, 
in front of jaws; inner teeth of jaws depressible; scales small, 
firm; head more or less scaly above; supraoccipital crest en- 
croaching on top of skull, so as to leave no smooth area at vertex; 
temporal crests distinct; scales small. (Lpinepheline.) 
J. Dorsal rays about XI, 16; anal rays III, 8; preopercle without 
antrorse spines; canine teeth in front of both jaws; temporal 
crests moderate; scales of lateral line simple, without. radiat- 
ing ridges. s\ 6 ja Getiatljenpal sold fs ls 3 SOEs 
161. ROCCUS Mitchill. (From vernacular Rock-Fish.) 
a. Teeth on base of tongue in two patches; body elongate, little compressed. 
(loccus.) 
