460 



TELEOSTEI 



Family Congrogadidae. Spineless, eel-shaped Blennies, with thick- 

 ened lips, a suborbital shelf, and the small post-temporal fixed to the 

 skull. No pelvic fins ; gill-membranes united, but free from the 

 isthmus. 



Congrogad us, Gthr. ; Indo-Paeific. ? Hierichthys ; Japan. 



Family Ophidiidae. Degenerate fish, allied to the Zoarcidae, which 

 have lost the caudal fin, and have the pelvics placed very far forward 

 below the mouth, and reduced to a forked filament. Many from the 

 deep seas. 



Ophidium, L. ; Lepophidium, ({ill; Genypterus, Phil. — Atlantic, Indian, 

 and Pacific Oceans. 



Family Podatelidae. Specialised forms perhaps allied to the Blen- 

 niidae. The protractile mouth is inferior, with minute teeth or toothless. 

 The pelvic fins are reduced to a filament with two rays. The long anal 

 is continuous with the caudal, the dorsal is short. Scaleless and spine- 

 less. The post-temporal is loosely attached and the perforate scapula 

 remains cartilaginous ; the radials are represented by a small plate of 

 cartilage. 



Podatch's (Ad'h'opm), Blgr. ; deep seas near Japan and India. 



Fi<;. 486. 

 Lueifuga dentatus, Poey ; from tin' Caves of Cuba. (After Gunther.) 



Sub-Tribe D. The trunk, and especially the head, becomes widened 

 and depressed, the mouth, as a rule, very large, the teeth sharp, the gill- 

 opening narrow, and the gills reduced. Neither a suborbital arch nor 

 an eye-muscle canal is present. The pleural ribs are lost in all, and the 

 epipleurals in all but the Batrachidae. The post-temporal is flat and 

 fixed to the skull, while the supraclavicle becomes much lengthened. 

 The scapula and coracoid are modified, and the radials tend to become 

 lengthened, expanded clistally, and reduced in number. Tlie scales are 

 generally absent or modified into spines or tubercles. 



Division 1. Batrachi. The scapula and coracoid are reduced, and 

 there are four or five radials. The gill-opening is moderately large and 

 normally situated. 



Family Batrachidae. With a very large mouth and depressed head ; 

 a small spinous dorsal, and pelvic fins with one spine and two or three 

 jointed rays ; naked or with small scales. Thalassophrym has perforated 

 poisonous opercular and dorsal spines. Batrachiis tun has eggs relatively 

 very large for a Teleost. 



Opsanu* (Batrachns), Bat'.; Porichthys, Gir. ; Thalassophryne, Gthr.; 

 Thalassothia, Berg. — tropical and temperate seas. 



