CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES 25 



B. Scales very small, thin, inconspicuous. Belonidce 

 2. Snout elongate, forming a hard bony sword, or a 

 spear-like process, without teeth. 



A. Snout a very long, hard, horizontally flattened 

 sword. XiphiidoB 



B. Snout cylindrical and spear-like. Dorsal fin 



very long and high. Istiophoridce. 



C. Snout moderately elongate, a hard pointed pro- 



cess, mouth small, transverse below it. Body 

 flattened, more or less triangular in form. 



OgcocephalidcE 



3. Lower jaw elongate, spear-like without teeth. 



HemiramphidcE 



4. Mouth small, at the end of the long snout. 



A. Bony and segmented, tail fin fan-shaped or absent, 



size small. Syngnalhidce 



B. Not bony and segmented. Tail fin forked, with a 



central lash. Size large. Fistidariidce 



IV. Not as above. 



1. Body elongate, eel shaped or band shaped. 



A. No well marked tail fin. Back fin continuous with 



the anal fin around the tail. 



a. No ventral fins. Anguilla and Leptocephalidce 



b. Ventral fins reduced each to a forked barbel, 



placed under the mouth. Ophidiidce 



B. Anal fin extending upward around the tail, but 



separate from the higher back fin. Zoarcida 



C. A well marked rounded tail fin more or less con- 



tinuous with the back fin above and the anal fin 

 below. Rays of the back fin spine-like. 



a. Head large squarish, the eyes placed high and 



far forward, the mouth large, opening up- 

 ward. Cryptacanthodidce 



b. Head not squarish, compressed like the body, 



small. Blenniidce (Pholis) 



D. Tail fin forked. Body band-like, silvery. Jaws 



without teeth. Ammodytidoe 



