The Kurtidæ are small, short-bodied fishes of the Indian seas, with some of the ribs immovably fixed between rings formed by the ossified cover of the air-bladder and with the hypocoracoid obsolete. Kurtus indicus is the principal species.
The Menidæ.—Near the Kurtidæ we may perhaps place the family of Menidæ, of one species, Mene maculata, the moonfish of the open seas of the East Indies and Japan. This is a small fish, about a foot long, with the body very closely compressed, the fins low and the belly, through the extension of the pelvic bone, a good deal more prominent than the back. The ventral fins have the usual number of one spine and five soft rays, a character which separates Mene widely from Lampris, which in some ways seems allied to it.
Fig. 223.—Mene maculata (Bloch & Schneider). Family Menidæ. Japan.
Another species of Menidæ is the extinct Gasteronemus rhombeus of the Eocene of Monte Bolca. It has much the same form, with long pubic bones. The very long ventral fins are, however, made of one spine and one or two rays. A second species, Gasteronemus oblongus, is recorded from the same rocks.
The Pempheridæ.—The Pempheridæ, "deep-water catalufas," or "magifi," are rather small deep-bodied fishes, reddish in color, with very short dorsal, containing a few graduated spines, and with a very long anal fin. These inhabit tropical seas at moderate depths. Pempheris bears a superficial resemblance to Beryx, but, according to Starks, this resemblance is not borne out by the anatomy. Pempheris mulleri and P. poeyi are found in the West Indies. Pempheris otaitensis and P. mangula range through Polynesia.
Fig. 224.—Gasteronemus rhombeus Agassiz. (After Woodward.) Menidæ.
Fig. 225.—Catalufa de lo Alto, Pempheris mulleri Poey. Havana.