Introduction 



The Blenniidae are a family of small, shallow-water, scaleless 

 fishes that are distributed circmnglobally, primarily in tropical and 

 subtropical seas, and that comprise about 400 species. The species 

 are basically benthic in habit, though a small group (Nemophidinae) 

 has taken up a somewhat free-swimming habit. 



This study is an attempt to define the family Blenniidae osteologi- 

 cally and to identify the major suprageneric groups within the family. 

 The research was undertaken because there is no reasonably com- 

 prehensive osteological description available for any species of blen- 

 niid, because much of the piecemeal osteological information available 

 on blenniids is misleading, because any sound classification of the 

 suborder Blennioidei will necessitate osteological information on each 

 of the contained families, and because I had a need to elicit informa- 

 tion that would be of assistance in my revisionary studies of the 

 blenniid genera. 



Gosline (1968) is the latest author to have critically reviewed the 

 higher classification of the perciform fishes and has firmly established 

 the perciform relationships of the blennioids. He differentiated the 

 suborder Blennioidei from the other perciforms primarily on the 

 basis of two characters: pelvic fins anterior in position to pectoral 

 fins; and presence of an exact one-to-one ratio between the vertebrae 

 and the dorsal rays and posterior anal soft rays. All blenniids, with 

 the exception of one monotypic genus, Plagiotremus, in which the 

 pelvics are absent, exhibit these two characters. 



In the hterature discussion that follows I cite only a few of the 

 pertinent papers concerned with the classification of the Blenniidae. 

 Those papers not cited by me are treated by Gosline (1968). A reading 

 of his paper is mandatory for any student of the blennioids. 



Hubbs (1952) recognized two superfamilies in the Blennioidei: 

 Zoarcicae (eel or northern blennies) and Blenniicae (tropical blennies) . 

 Of the seven characters Hubbs used to distinguish the Blenniicae (in 

 which he included the Blenniidae), two — the number of suborbitals 

 ("circumorbitals" in my study) and the relationship of the ascending 

 wings of the paraspheniod with the descending wings of the frontals — 

 are not acceptable (Springer, 1955, 1956). The remaining five charac- 

 ters, with slight modification, do apply with the exception of individual 

 variant specimens. These characters are: (1) 13 or fewer principal 

 caudal rays; (2) all soft (articulated) fin rays in pelvics, dorsal, and 

 anal fins simple; the other fin rays may be branched, but if so, only 



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