419 
Order Synbranchii 
Body eel like. Mouth not protractile, above bordered 
chiefly by premaxillaries, maxillary posterior and parallel. 
Lower jaw formed by dentary, articular and angular bones. 
Teeth in bands or in series in jaws, usually on palatines 
and pterygoids. Opercular bones normal. Gill membranes 
united, gill openings confluent below, more or less re- 
stricted from above, typically appears as transverse slit. 
Skull long, without crests or ridges above. Preorbital 
present, but no suborbitals. Front vertebrae not modified, 
without Weberian ossicles. No air bladder. Scales absent 
or minute, when arranged longitudinally. Lateral line 
present. Dorsal and anal rayless folds of skin, united 
with very small caudal of 8 to 10 rays. No pectorals, only 
membrane bones of arch developed. Ventrals absent or as 
jugular rudiments. 
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