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PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. IX, April, 1955 
Fig. 6. Left pectoral girdle, from outside, of Krae- 
meria showing cleithrum and the three actinosts. 
Regan uses the primary pectoral girdle as 
a method of distinguishing between the Ele- 
otridae and Gobiidae. Of the Eleotridae Regan 
(1911: 730) states: "Hypercoracoid [scapula] 
and hypocoracoid [coracoid] well developed; 
radials [actinosts] inserted on hypercoracoid, 
hypocoracoid, and on the ligamentous or 
cartilaginous tissue between these bones;’’ of 
the Gobiidae: "Hypercoracoid absent; radials 
inserted on the cleithrum, only the lowest in 
contact with the hypocoracoid.’’ 
Among the larger or better ossified skele- 
tons Eleotris and Eviota have a scapula and 
Gobiodon and Awaous do not. However, among 
the more weakly ossified pectoral girdles 
which include Microdesmus , Ptereleotris, Kellog- 
gella , and Kraemeria I can find neither coracoid 
nor scapula. Consequently I can only con- 
clude that the osteological characters of the 
pectoral girdle, if valid, are extremely difficult 
to use. 
Vertebrae 
Regan has given the vertebral number 
among gobioid fishes as 25 to 28 for the 
Eleotridae and 25 to 34 for the Gobiidae. 
Among the species investigated here Ptereleo- 
tris , Eviota , Kelloggella , Gobiodon , and Krae- 
meria each has 26 vertebrae. However, the 
vertebral count given by Reid (1936: 71) for 
Microdesmus multiradatus is 62, and the range 
of vertebral variation found by Reid in the 
genus Microdesmus is 42 to 62. Smith (1951: 
521) gives the vertebral count of his Para - 
gobioides copleyi as 59- Thus Microdesmus. and 
Paragobioides copleyi have vertebral counts ly- 
ing well beyond the normal vertebral range 
in the Gobioid fishes. It is true that these 
two genera are made up of far more elongate 
fishes than the usual goby. Nevertheless, 
there are other elongate gobioids that so far 
as known do not have more than 34 vertebrae 
(cf. Hora, 1924: 156). 
Caudal Skeleton 
The caudal skeleton of the gobioid fishes 
(Fig. la-c) appears to be highly diagnostic. 
Above and below the main wings of the 
hypural fan are small splint-like bones. In 
front of the upper splint is a large plate-like 
ossicle that appears to lie free in the mem- 
brane above the urostyle, or which, in Awaous , 
is attached along its anterior edge to the 
preurostylar neural spine. These main features 
of the gobioid caudal skeleton seem to be 
constant in all of the species examined; varia- 
tions in some of the minor features are illus- 
trated in Figure la-c. 
The small island of bone above the uro- 
stylar vertebra does not seem to be essen- 
tially different from that found in the typical 
percoid Epinephelus . However, Epinephelus and 
most other perciform fishes (Fig. id-f) ex- 
amined do not have the splint-like bones 
above and below the hypural fan. Smith’s 
figure of Paragobioides copleyi (1951: 522, fig. 
IE) does not show these splints either, but 
as they are small they may have been over- 
looked. 
Fins 
In the fishes dealt with here there is either 
approximately ( Eleotris , Microdesmus ) or ex- 
