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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XVII, January 1963 
the above fashion is to separate those nearer 
the generalized percoid type from those that 
are more specialized. Such a division may 
merely represent levels of structural organiza- 
tion rather than relationships. 
Parapercis is much the least differentiated 
from the typical percoids of any of the six 
fishes dealt with in this paper. All of the re- 
maining five fishes ( Tripterygion , Crystallo- 
dytes, Ammodytes , Bleekeria, and Hypoptychus ) 
have in common the following specializations 
over and beyond those found in Parapercis : 
circumorbital series of bones incomplete or 
complete and consisting of a lacrimal and only 
2 or 3 circumorbitals; no pungent dorsal spines; 
caudal with 13 or fewer principal rays; uro- 
style fused to the upper hypurals; pelvics re- 
duced (i.e., without branched rays) or absent. 
Most of the minor specializations that Para- 
percis does exhibit seem to be associated with 
fin structure. Thus the pelvics are advanced in 
position and have the inner (actually the 4th) 
soft rays the longest, but there appears to be 
no great specialization of the pelvic girdle (Fig. 
8b). The caudal fin lacks the usual principal 
unbranched rays, though the caudal skeleton 
is typically percoid (Fig. 6a). The spinous por- 
tions of the dorsal and anal have been reduced. 
In the anal there is a single small unsegmented 
splint at the front of the fin. The spinous dorsal 
seems to have been pushed forward and con- 
centrated as well as reduced in size, for there 
is only one supraneural and the pterygiophores 
for all five spines extend between neural arches 
2 and 5. The soft dorsal and anal retain a typical 
percoid condition. However, their pterygio- 
phores interdigitate deeply between successive 
neural and hemal spines and bear a one-to-one 
relationship with the vertebrae. Now in typical 
percoid families, though not apparently in the 
Cepolidae, the soft dorsal and anal rays usually 
do not interdigitate deeply between the neural 
and hemal spines, and there are usually about 
two pterygiophores per vertebra. This is true 
of even fairly elongate forms like the goatfish, 
Mulloidichthys samoensis. To change this ar- 
rangement to a one-to-one relationship between 
pterygiophores and vertebrae requires either an 
increase in the spacing between soft dorsal and 
anal rays, or an increase in the number of verte- 
brae, or both. The cigar-shaped labrid Cheilio 
inermis seems to be an instance where a one- 
to-one ratio has been brought about by in- 
creased spacing between rays, for this fish re- 
tains 24 vertebrae. In most elongate fishes, how- 
ever, an increase in vertebrae has also taken 
place. 
On the basis of Parapercis alone it is impos- 
sible to evaluate Regan’s (1913) percoid "Di- 
vision Trachiniformes” (equals superfamily 
Trachinoidae) . Suffice it here to remark that 
there does appear to be a somewhat extensive | 
group of usually rather deep-water bottom fishes 
having essentially the fin characters described 
above for Parapercis. Whether these fishes are 
really related is impossible to say at this point. 
The relationship of Crystallodytes to this group 
is also doubtful. Certainly Crystallodytes repre- 
sents a much higher degree of differentiation 
from the typical percoids than Parapercis. (For 
certain characteristics of Crytallodytes , see be- 
low.) Some knowledge of less specialized (or 
at least of other) forms of the Crystallodytes 
lineage should provide far better indications of 
its relationships than are available from a study 
of this form alone. (Throughout this paper, 
Crystallodytes has been considered a trichonotid, 
but that this is a correct family allocation is 
dubious, cf, Schultz, I960: 273.) 
Tripterygion is generally agreed to be a mem- 
ber of the perciform suborder Blennioidei. How- 
ever, this suborder, since it was defined and later 
restricted by Regan (1912, 1929), has under- 
gone considerable disintegration and rearrange- 
ment (Starks, 1923; Smith, 1952; Hubbs, 1952; 
Gosline, 1955; and Makushok, 1958). Even 
after certain nonblennioid groups have been re- 
moved, Hubbs and Makushok feel that most or 
all of the remaining families may be divided 
into a northern (cold water) group and a 
southern (warm water) group which may have 
had independent origins among the percoid 
families. 
Tripterygion is, in many respects, one of the 
more generalized, i.e., percoid, members of the 
whole warm water group. This group differs 
radically from the remaining fishes under con- 
sideration here in its mode of life. The southern 
blennies characteristically use their thickened 
pelvic rays to prop the anterior end of the body 
