New Hawaiian Fishes — GOSLINE 
73 
Caudal fin slightly shorter than the head 
length, with 6 principal rays, all of which are 
somewhat branched at tip, the outermost 
least so; 10 caudal rays in all, the outermost 
short, splintlike, and unsegmented. Pelvic fins 
with a spine and 5 branched rays, the fourth 
of which is the longest. Pectoral with about 
19 rays, the longest of which reach about to 
above the anal origin. 
A 15 mm. (standard length) specimen has 
black spots at the base of each soft dorsal 
and anal ray and another at the base of tail. 
Between 15 and 20 mm. these markings fade, 
so that the specimens are a plain yellowish 
brown except for some incipient markings on 
the back and on the first dorsal. At a length 
of 25 mm. the first dorsal is almost completely 
black, and there are prominent dark bars and 
spots symmetrically arranged on either side of 
the middorsal line on the body and head. 
The three specimens sexed, 22 to 25 mm. 
in standard length, proved to be nearly ripe 
females. If adult males are represented among 
the types, they show no striking external 
differences. 
The species has been taken only once. This 
was from a poison station run in a small, 
semi-protected cove in which a vertical, alga- 
covered ledge dropped vertically to a uniform 
sand bottom 3 to 10 feet below. Pogonymtis 
pogognathus was the most abundant species 
taken. Whether the individuals were living on 
the ledge or in the sand below (as seems more 
probable judging from the fringed lip) was 
not verified at the time. Just how this habitat 
differed from that of innumerable other poison 
stations run from ledges dropping off to a 
sand bottom remains unknown to the author. 
Pogon = (Gr.) bearded; gnathos = (Gr.) 
jaw. 
Suborder SCHINDLERIOIDEI 
The two known species of Schindleria (see 
Fig. 5) were first described as members of the 
genus Hemiramphus in the 1930 ’s. They have 
been bounced about from order to order ever 
since. The members of the genus are neotenic 
Fig. 5. Schindleria praematurus, female with eggs. 
(After Bruun.) 
fishes, apparently without close relatives, 
which have lost the adult characteristics that 
would presumably indicate their relationships. 
The present erection of a new suborder of 
perciform fishes for Schindleria is not made on 
the basis of any decisive new material; it 
merely seems to be the best available solution 
to a difficult problem. Knowledge of Schind- 
leria may be marshaled under four heads: 
neoteny, sexual differentiation, soft anatomy, 
and '"osteology.” These will be dealt with 
only in so far as they bear on the systematic 
position of the genus, 
Neoteny: That a 20 mm. Schindleria may be 
sexually mature is often indicated by the con- 
spicuous presence of large eggs in the fe- 
males. That the rest of the fish is in a larval 
stage of development is shown by the pres- 
ence of the atrium directly behind, i.e., on the 
same horizontal plane with, the ventricle 
(Schindler, 1932: pi. 4c); by what is appar- 
ently a functional pronephros (Schindler, 
1932: 25); by the well-developed opercular 
gill (Schindler, 1932: 12); the tremendous, 
protruding eyes; the rounded pectoral fin 
attached to a lobate, fleshy base; the trans- 
parent body; and by the degree and nature of 
the "ossification” of the skeleton (see below). 
Neoteny in fishes is rare, and nowhere is it 
carried to the extreme found in Schindleria. It 
is also apparently sporadic, occurring as it 
does in some of the Clupeiformes (e.g., 
Salangidae), in at least one member of the 
Beloniformes {Cololahis adocetus), and perhaps 
in the gobioid Perciformes. Consequently, its 
neotenous nature is of no great aid in the 
systematic placement of Schindleria. One is 
merely inclined to ask the irrelevant question 
why neoteny does not occur more often 
among fishes of the open ocean. 
