Jordan and Rrerniiinn. Fishes of North America. 977 



Family CXXXIX. PEMPHERID.E. 

 (THE DEEP-WATER CATALUFAS.) 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with moderate or small scales, which 

 are distinctly ctenoid, the vent well forward, the long base of the anal 

 very oblique. Lateral line nearly straight, unarmed, extending on the 

 caudal fin ; membranes of anal more or less scaly, that of dorsal mostly 

 naked. Head compressed, with blunt snout, narrow preorbital, and large 

 eye; bones of head unarmed, or very nearly so; nostrils double; cheeks, 

 opercles, and jaws scaly ; mouth large, very oblique; premaxillary pro- 

 tractile; maxillary very broad posteriorly. Small teeth on jaws, vomer, 

 and palatines. Gills 4 ; gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus. 

 Branchiostegals 7. Dorsal fin very short, median or anterior, with 5 or 6 

 slender graduated spines, continuous with the soft rays, the first of which 

 is longest ; no projecting interspinal bones before dorsal. Anal fin very 

 long, not falcate, with 2 or 3 small spines in front ; caudal lunate or mod- 

 erately forked, on a stoutish peduncle. Ventrals moderate, I, 5, inserted 

 below the pectorals, which are rather long. Supraoccipital crest high, 

 slender ; vertebrae in normal number, 10 -f- 24 (Pempheris)', the abdominal 

 vertebrae short ; the caudal vertebrae gradually lengthened. Coracoids 

 much dilated. Air bladder large, thick, divided into two by a constric- 

 tion, the anterior part smaller and round. Pyloric cceca 6 or 7, some of 

 them longer than the stomach. Small fishes, inhabiting rather deep 

 water in the tropics. Three genera, Pempheris, Parapriacanthus (Pemphe- 

 richthys), and Neopempheris, with about 12 known species. The relation- 

 ships of the family are not very clear. In the form and proportions of the 

 fins Pempheris resembles Kurtus, with which genus it has been usually 

 associated. Kurtus has feeble scales, nearly or quite naked head and free 

 spines, and antrorse interspinals before the dorsal fin. Kurtus seems to 

 be a member of the Scombroid group. Pempheris shows but few Scom- 

 broid characters, and bears a superficial resemblance to Priacanthus. 

 We allow the supposed relation to Kurtus to remain, and place the 

 group at the end of the Scomlroidei, where in fact it probably belongs. 

 (Carangidw, part, Gunther, Cat., n, 509, 510, 1860.) 



a. Anal fin very long, its first ray in advance of middle of body. PEMPHERIS, 448. 



448. PEMPHERIS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



Pempheris, CtTVlER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vn, 296, 1831, (onalensis). 



Body short and deep, tapering posteriorly, covered with rather small 

 scales, 35 to 70 in lateral line. Vent in advance of middle of length. 

 Dorsal rays VI, 9; anal rays III, 35 to 46. Caudal lunate. (Pempheris, a 

 name given by Numenius to some little fish, now unrecognized. "Ces 

 noms sans caractere indicatif de leurs especes se trouvant ainsi vacantes 

 les naturalistes s'en emparent comme de choses sans maitres pour les 

 appliquer aux genres nouveaux qu' ils decouvrent." (Valenciennes.) 



a. Anal rays III, 32 to III, 25. 



b. Scales in lateral line nearly 50; 32 in a lengthwise series; eye 2% in head. 



MEXICANUS, 1375. 



F.N. A. 63 



