On the Gadoid or Anacanthine Fishes. 459 



LXTI. — Oyi the Systematic Position and Classijication of the 

 Gadoid or Anacanthine Fishes. By C. Tate Regan, 13. A.. 



In the order Anacantliini Dr. Gunther * included those 

 fishes which were brought together bj the definition "Vertical 

 and ventral fins without spinous rays j ventral fins, if present, 

 jugular or thoracic; air-bladder, if present, without pneumatic 

 duct." Of these the Ammodytidpe are now usually regarded 

 as allied to the Scombresocidai, whilst the remaining families 

 have been included within the Acanthopterygii by most modern 

 authors. In Messrs. Jordan and Evermann's ' Fishes of 

 North America ' f we find that the Lycodidas, Brotulidaj, 

 Ophidiida?, &c. are considered to be degraded forms allied to 

 the Blennies, whilst the Gadidaj and Macrurida; are placed 

 next to them, being, however, distinguished by the foramen 

 between scapula and coracoid, and the Pleuronectidas form a 

 third group, whose nearest relations are stated to be probably 

 with the GadidcW. 



In recent papers Mr. Boulenger \ has shown that the 

 Pleuronectida3 are nearer to the Cyttidse than to any other 

 living fishes, and also that the Trachiuidaj, Callionymidee, 

 and Nototheniidas resemble the Gadidaj and Macruridaj in the 

 ])Osition of the scapular foramen, on which account, and taking 

 into consideration the jugular position of the ventrals, he 

 would associate all the Gadoid, Trachinoid, Bletinioid, and 

 Batrachoid fishes in one division of the Acanthopterygii, — 

 Jugulares. 



The importance of the position of the scapular foramen had, 

 however, been overestimated, for the same author § has since 

 discovered that Trematomus differs from all the other Noto- 

 theniid^e in having the foramen entirely within the scapula. 

 I find a similar instance in the Macruridge, a species hitherto 

 referred to the genus Bathygadus — viz., B. longifilis^ Goode 

 and Bean ll — having the scapula perforate. Tliis species also 

 differs from Bathygadus in the presence of a slit behind the 

 fourth gill, and I propose to make it the type of a new genus 

 Gadomus ; it is worth noting that this is undoubtedly a very 

 generalized Macrurid, as is shown by the terminal mouth, 

 cycloid scales, subcontinuous dorsal fins, and the first dorsal 



* Cat. iv. p. 317 (I86i>), and ' Study of Fishes,' p. -537 (1880). 



+ Vol. iii. pp. 2453, 2528, and 2502. 



X Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) viii. 1901, p. 261, and x. 1902, p. 295. 



§ ' Southern Cross ' Fishes, p. 177. 



II B.multifilis, Giiuther, and B.fanescens, Alcock, are identical with 

 this species. B. melayiobnmcktis, Vaillant, has a slit behind the fourth 

 gill and the foramen between scapula and coracoid ; I propose for it the 

 generic name Melunohranchus. 



