648 



TELEOSTEI 



usually supporting ribs/ which themselves bear epipleurals. 

 Gill-membranes free from isthmus or narrowly attached ; 6 to 8 

 branchiostegal rays ; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth ; no 

 pseudobranchiae. Ventral fins jugular, with 1 to 9 soft rays. 

 Body more or less elongate, covered with small cycloid scales. 

 Dorsal and anal fins elongate, formed of articulated rays, some- 

 times divided into two or three distinct portions. Caudal fin 

 more or less distinct, supported by the unmodified or but slightly 

 modified neural and haemal spines of the last vertebrae, which 

 are perfectly symmetrical (diphycercal or isocercal type). 



A mental barbel is often present, as in the Macruridae, and 

 the suture between the frontal bones has disappeared in most of 

 the members of this very natural family. About 120 species are 

 distinguished, mostly marine, many being adapted to life at great 

 depths. All are carnivorous. Tiiey inhabit chiefly the northern 



Fig. 398. — Cod {Gadiis morrhua), x i. (After Goode.) 



seas, but many abyssal forms occur between the tropics and in 

 the southern parts of the Atlantic and Pacific. Principal genera : 

 ' Gadus, <■ Merluccius, Holargyreus, -Lotella, Physiculus, Fhycis, 

 Haloporphyrus, Trifterofliycis, Lota, Molva, Onus, Bregmaceros, 

 Antimora, Saniceps, Brosviius. 



Several species, referred to Gadus and Brosmius, have been 

 described from the Miocene. Nemopteryx, which is allied to 

 Gadus, is from the Oligocene. 



The fishes of this family are among the most important from 

 an economic point of view. It will suffice to allude merely by 

 name to the following among the European forms : — The Cod- 

 Fish {Gadus morrhua), the largest species, reaching a length of 



^ In the very aberrant Hake {Merhiccius) ribs are absent on the vertebrae bearing 

 the strongly expanded, plate-lilie parapophyses. 



