244 SUB-CLASS (AND ORDER) TELEOSTEI. 



present ; gills 4, a slit behind the 4th ; dorsal fin formed entirely 

 of spines. Littoral fishes of great generic variety in all temp, and 

 trop. seas ; some in f.w., e.g., in the Italian Lakes. Anarr- 

 hichas Art., sea- wolf, to 6 ft., strong tubercular teeth, N. Seas; A. 

 lupus L. , wo If -fish ( Fig. 117); Anarrhichthys ; Blennius Art. , littoral or attach 

 themselves to floating objects, readily accustom themselves to f.w., 

 some acclimatised in inland lakes (B. vulgaris). British species are : 

 B. gattorugine Bloch., tompot : B. ocellaris L., butterfly blenny ; B, 

 galerita L. ; B. pholis L., shanny ; Chasmodes, Pelroscirtes trop. 

 Ind.-Pac. ; Salarias, Clinus, Cristiceps, Cremnobates, Tripterygium, 

 Slichaeus ; Blenniops Nils. (Carelophus Kroyer) ; B. ascanii Walb. 

 British ; Centronotus Bl. Schn. (Pholis Scop.) ; C. gunellus Bl. Sch., 

 butter-fish, is British ; Apodichthys, Xiphidion, Cryptacanthodes, Pataecus. 

 Zoarces Cuv. ; Z. viviparus L., a viviparous form in British seas (Fig. 128), 

 Blennophis, Nemophis, Plagiotremus, Neoclinus, Cebidichthys, Myxodes, 

 Heterostichus, Dictyosoma, Lepidoblennius, Gunelichihys , Urocentrus, 

 Stichaeopsis, Sticharium, Notograptus, Pholidichthys, Pseudoblennius> 

 and a large number of other genera too numerous to mention. 



Fam. 118. Batrachidae. With undivided post-temporal; gill-arches 

 reduced to 3 ; gills 3, with slit behind last ; no pseudobranch ; 

 head large, depressed ; 2 dorsals ; soft dorsal long ; anal similar, 

 but shorter ; tail homocercal ; carnivorous fishes of the warm seas ; some 

 ascending rivers. Batrachus Bl. Schn. (Batrachoides Lac.) ; Thallasso- 

 phryne Gthr., two dorsal and opercular spines with poison sacs; Pori- 

 chthys ; Opsanus Raf. (Batrachus Jord. and Gilb.), toad-fishes, O. tau L. ; 

 Daector. 



Fam. 119. Ophidiidae. Body more or less elongate ; naked or scaly ; 

 median fins generally united, no separate anterior dorsal or anal ; pelvics 

 small or absent ; tail tapering ; without distinct caudal fin ; gill-openings 

 wide ; gill-membranes not attached to isthmus. Marine fishes, except 

 Lucifuga, partly littoral, partly bathybial. 



Brotulina. Pelvic fins present, attached to the pectoral arch. 

 Brotula, Lucifuga, subterranean waters of Cuba, eye reduced or 

 absent ; bathybial are Bathynectes, Acanthonus, Typhlonus, Aphyonus, 

 Rhinonus ; surface forms are Brotulophis, Halidesmus, Dinema- 

 tichthys, Bythites ; Sirembo and Pteridium are from moderate depths ,. 

 and a considerable number of other genera (45 in all). 



Ophidiina. Pelvic fins replaced by a pair of bifid filaments below 

 the glossohyal. Ophidium Art. ; Op. barbatum L. ; Genypterus. 

 Lepophidium, Rissola, Chilara, Otophidium. 



Congrogadina. No pelvics, vent remote from head. Congro- 

 gadus, Haliophis. 



Tribe 9. TAENIOSOMI (LOPHOTIFORMES). 



Compressed, often ribbon-like fishes of doubtful affinities, probably 

 related to the earlier Acanthopterygians, the pelvics when well developed 

 having as many as 7 to 9 rays ; dorsal fin extending from the head 

 to the end of the tail ; anal fin short or absent. Pectoral fin with 3 

 short somactids. Scales minute or absent. Deep-sea or pelagic fishes 

 from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific. 



Fam. 120. Trachypteridae., Ribbon-fishes. Deep-sea fishes often 

 found floating dead on the surface with their tissues loosened by the 



