Order Apodes 
Body elongate, cylindrical or compressed. Gill openings 
rather small. No pseudobranchiae. Premaxillaries not devel¬ 
oped as distinct elements. Maxillaries border mouth. Opercles 
small, membrane covering large branchial chamber chiefly sup¬ 
ported by long branchiostegals. Single pair of dentigerous 
upper pharyngeals opposed to separte lovrer phyngeals. Gona- 
ducts reduced to gental pores. Air vessel joined to oeso¬ 
phagus by tube. Scales rudimentary or absent. Lateral line 
present or absent. Dorsal and anal fins continuous to or with 
reduced caudal, when present. Pectorals small or absent. 
Ventrals absent. 
A large group of soft rayed fishes, considered by Regan 
an offshoot of the herring-like fishes. Apparently of low 
organization, especially the forms with more simple structure, 
they are hardly primitive but more likely the modification 
of a long continued progression, according to their mouth and 
fins • 
