380 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol XIV, October I960 
ture Snyderidia bears a considerable resemblance 
to the carapid genus Echiodon (Arnold, 1956). 
Nevertheless, in another whole series of charac- 
teristics Snyderidia differs from Echiodon and 
apparently all other carapids. This series may be 
divided between presumably primitive and pre- 
sumably specialized features. Among the "primi- 
tive” characters in Snyderidia may be mentioned 
the wide gill openings; the comparatively low 
number of vertebrae, both abdominal and cau- 
dal; the relatively high pectoral count; the small, 
backwardly sloping first neural arch; and the 
protractile upper jaw. In all these traits Snyderi- 
dia is closer to the brotulids and ophidiids than 
to the carapids. Among specialized features in 
Snyderidia may be mentioned especially the 
fusion of the frontals and the separate angular 
bone. On the whole then Snyderidia might be 
considered a side branch of the primitive stock 
from which the carapids have arisen. In the 
absence of known transitional forms between 
Snyderidia and the carapids, Snyderidia would 
appear to merit separation at the family level. 
Though the internal features of Pyramodon 
remain mostly unknown, it seems most probable 
that Snyderidia should be included in Smith’s 
family Pyramodontidae. The chief external dif- 
ference between the two appears to be the re- 
tention of pelvic filaments in Pyramodon . To 
include Snyderidia, some slight rearrangement 
of Smith’s definition ( see above ) of the family 
seems required. Using only those characters 
known for both Pyramodon and Snyderidia, the 
family Pyramodontidae may be redefined as 
follows: Body naked, tapering to a fine point 
posteriorly. Anal fin commencing below the pec- 
toral. Pectoral with 27 rays. Gill openings ex- 
tending well forward on throat. Upper jaw pro- 
tractile. Large canines on the front of the vomer 
and at the symphyses of both jaws. 
Some discussion of the remaining ophidioid 
families seems in order. The Carapidae is ob- 
viously the most specialized; indeed in habits the 
Carapidae is among the most specialized of all 
fish families, for it and the unrelated Pygidiidae 
comprise the only two fish families known that 
have developed parasitic members. 
The Ophidiidae is externally separable from 
the other families in the group by the mental 
pelvics, though certain brotulid genera have the 
pelvics nearly as far forward. A more important 
character, if it applies to all ophidiids, is the 
peculiar first neural arch (Fig. 4a) and its con- 
nection with the air bladder; unfortunately this 
feature remains uninvestigated in what Norman 
(ms., 1957: 500) calls the subfamily Lepophi- 
diinae. 
The Brotulidae is a tremendous and hetero- 
geneous family (Gosline, 1953), which Nor- 
man has recently divided into four subfamilies 
(ms., 1957: 484). That Its osteological features 
cannot be characterized on the basis of internal 
examination of one species has been abundantly 
shown, while even the approximate limits of 
variation remain unknown. Suffice it to say that 
even the known variation in osteological features 
(Gosline, 1953) is greater than between many 
families of the great superfamily Percoidae. 
REFERENCES 
Arnold, D. C. 1956. A systematic revision of 
the fishes of the teleost family Carapidae 
(Percomorphi, Blennioidea), with descriptions 
of two new species. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) 
Zool. Bull. 4(6): 247-307, 20 figs. 
Beaufort, L. F. de. 1951. The Fishes of the 
Indo Australian Archipelago. E. J. Brill, Lei- 
den. Vol. IX, 484 pp, 89 figs. 
Emery, C 1880. Le specie del genere Fierasfer 
del Golfo di Napoli e regionl limitrofe. Fauna 
u. Flora Neapel, Monogr. II. 7 6 pp., 9 pis. 
FACCIOLA, L. 1933. L ’Ophidian harhatum Linn, 
e la sua vescica natatoria. Soc. ItaL Milano, 
Atti 72(2): 157-164, 1 fig. 
Gilbert, C. H. 1905. The aquatic resources of 
the Hawaiian Islands, Part II, Section II. The 
deep-sea fishes. U. S. Fish Comm. Bull. 23: 
577-713, pis. 66-101, figs. 230-276. 
Gosline, W. A. 1953. Hawaiian shallow-water 
fishes of the family Brotulidae, with the de- 
scription of a new genus and notes on brotulid 
anatomy. Copeia 1953: 215-225, 5 figs. 
— 1954. Fishes killed by the 1950 erup- 
tion of Mauna Loa, II. Brotulidae. Pacif. Sci. 
8: 68-83, 3 figs. 
Harry, R. R. 1951. A new cusk-eei of the 
genus Ophidion from California, with notes 
on the genus. Stanf. Ichthyol. Bull. 4: 30-35, 
fig. 2. 
