In Congiopus the very strong dorsal spines begin in the head, and the mouth is very small. Dr. Gill makes this genus the type of a distinct family, Congiopodidæ.
Besides these, very many genera and species of small poison-fishes, called okose in Japan, abound in the sandy bays from Tokio to Hindostan and the Red Sea. Some of these are handsomely colored, others are fantastically formed. Paracentropogon rubripinnis and Minous adamsi are the commonest species in Japan. Trachicephalus uranoscopus abounds in the bays of hina. Snyderina yamanokami occurs in Southern Japan.
Fig. 375.—Snyderina yamanokami Jordan & Starks. Family Scorpænidæ. Satsuma, Japan.
But few fossil Scorpænidæ are recorded. Scorpænopterus siluridens, a mailed fish from the Vienna Miocene, with a warty head, seems to belong to this group, and Ampheristus toliapicus, with a broad, depressed head, is found in the London Eocene, and various Miocene species have been referred to Scorpæna. Sebastodes rosæ is based on a fragment, probably Pleistocene, from Port Harford, California.
Fig. 376.—Trachicephalus uranoscopus. Family Scorpænidæ. From Swatow, China.
The small family of the Caracanthidæ consists of little fishes of the coral reefs of the Pacific. These are compressed in form, and the skin is rough with small prickles, the head being feebly armed. The species are rare and little known, brown in color with pale spots.
Fig. 377.—Skilfish, Anoplopoma fimbria (Pallas). California.