One genus only is known, Hoplognathus, with four species from Australian, Japanese, and Peruvian coasts.
Fig. 176.—Teeth of Hoplognathus.
Sixth Family—Cirrhitidæ.
Body oblong, compressed, covered with cycloid scales; lateral line continuous. Mouth in front of the snout, with lateral cleft. Eye lateral, of moderate size. Cheeks without a bony stay for the præoperculum. Generally six, sometimes five or three branchiostegals. Dentition more or less complete, composed of small pointed teeth, sometimes with the addition of canines. One dorsal fin, formed by a spinous and soft portion, of nearly equal development. Anal with three spines, generally less developed than the soft dorsal. The lower rays of the pectoral fins simple and generally enlarged; ventrals thoracic, but remote from the root of the pectorals, with one spine and five rays.
The fishes of this family may be readily recognised by their thickened, undivided lower pectoral rays, which in some are evidently auxiliary organs of locomotion, in others, probably, organs of touch. They differ from the following family, the Scorpænidæ, in lacking the bony connection between the infraorbital ring and the præoperculum. Two groups may be distinguished in this family, which, however, are connected by an intermediate genus (Chironemus). The first, distinguished by the presence of vomerine teeth, consists of Cirrhites and Chorinemus, small prettily coloured fishes. The former genus is peculiar to the Indo-Pacific, and consists of sixteen species; the second, with three species, seems to be confined to the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. The second group lacks the vomerine teeth, and comprises the following genera:—
Chilodactylus.—One dorsal fin, with from sixteen to nineteen spines; anal fin of moderate length; caudal forked. One of the simple pectoral rays more or less prolonged, and projecting beyond the margin of the fin. Teeth in villiform bands; no canines. Præoperculum not serrated. Scales of moderate size. Air-bladder with many lobes.
Fig. 177.—Chilodactylus macropterus, from Australia.
Seventeen species are known, chiefly from the temperate parts of the Southern Pacific, and also from the coasts of Japan and China. They belong to the most valuable food-fishes, as they grow to a considerable size (from five to twenty-five lbs.), and are easily caught in numbers. At the Cape of Good Hope they are very abundant, and preserved in large quantities for export.