GREGORY: FISH SKULLS 



251 



does not open upward but forward. This is brought about by the forward prolongation of 

 the tips of the upper and lower beaks. 



Mullida. — The "Red Mullets," according to Boulenger (1904, p. 665), "are very 

 nearly related to the Sparidae, with which they agree in the structure of the vertebral column 

 and the presence of a subocular shelf. They differ in the very weak dentition, the presence 

 of a pair of hyoid barbels, the reduced number (4) of branchiostegal rays, and the double 

 perforation of the scapula. Two short dorsal fins, remote from each other, the anterior 

 with weak spines." Possibly these characters may be related to the bottom-living habits 

 of these fishes. The Mullidae, according to Tate Regan (1913a, p. 123), though related to the 



pf t> pareth 



,,epJo+ 



pto 

 - Tst) 



pmx 



Micropogon sp. 



M. undulatus 



, Fig. 125. Micropogon sp. 



Lutianidae are more specialized in several characters. As may be inferred from the presence 

 of long barbels attached to the hyoid behind the symphysis of the lower jaw, the mullets rest 

 and feed on the bottom. The mouth is protractile, the alveolae processes of the premaxillary 

 are lacking, the maxillaries not being overlapped externally by the premaxillaries. They 

 are sheathed by the preorbitals (lacrymals). The teeth are villiform in the jaws and often on 

 the vomer and palatines (Regan, 1913a). Tate Regan (1929, p. 320) now classes the Mullidae 

 among "several families of marine perches," which have "a scaly axillary pelvic process, and 

 the maxillary sheathed by the preorbital," namely, Lutianidae, Pomadisidae, Liognathidae, 

 Sciaenidae, Mullidae, Sparidae, etc. He says that the Mullidae "have a pair of barbels at the 

 chin, used to probe for the small shell-fish, worms, etc., on which they feed." The otolith 

 (sagitta) of a young example of Mullus barbatus, according to Frost {1927b, p 303), was of 



