1643 
Body elongate, compressed. Head compressed, attenuated. 
Eye large. Mouth widely cleft, lower jaw protruding. Max¬ 
illary closely Joined to premaxillary, not protractile, long, 
slender. Teeth round, slender, unequal, with smooth edges, 
some on palatines and in mandible rather enlarged; uniserial 
on premaxillaries, mandible, palatines and pterygoids. Pal¬ 
atine teeth at least partly rounded, slender, like those of 
mandible. Opercle with thin bones. Gill membranes separate, 
free from isthmus. Gill rakers short., spine like. Pseudobran¬ 
chiae well developed. Branch!ostegals 7. No air vessel. No 
pyloric coeca. Scales deciduous, largest in lateral line. 
Dorsal rays 9 to 12, postmedian, short. Adipose fin small, 
far back. Anal elongate, far posterior or at end of tail. 
Caudal emarginate. Pectoral weak and feeble in young, better 
developed with age, low. Ventral small, inserted below or 
immediately before or behind dorsal. 
