Closely related to the family of Nototheniidæ and perhaps scarcely distinct from it is the small family of Pteropsaridæ, which differs in having but one lateral line and the foramen just above the lower edge of the hypercoracoid. The numerous species inhabit the middle Pacific, and are prettily colored fishes, looking like gobies. Pteropsaron is a Japanese genus, with high dorsal and anal fins; Parapercis is more widely diffused. Osurus schauinslandi is one of the neatest of the small fishes of Hawaii. Several species of Parapercis and Neopercis occur in Japan and numerous others in the waters of Polynesia. Pseudeleginus majori of the Italian Miocene must belong near Parapercis.
The Bathymasteridæ, or ronquils, are perhaps allied to the Nototheniidæ; they resemble the Opisthognathidæ, but the jaws are shorter and they have a large number of vertebræ as befits their northern distribution. Ronquilus jordani is found in Puget Sound and Bathymaster signatus in Alaska. The ventral rays are I, 5, and the many-rayed dorsal has a few slender spines in front.
Fig. 444.—Bathymaster signatus Cope. Shumagin Is., Alaska.
The Leptoscopidæ.—The Leptoscopidæ of New Zealand resemble the weevers and star-gazers, but the head is unarmed, covered by thin skin.
The Star-gazers: Uranoscopidæ.—The Uranoscopidæ, or star-gazers, have the head cuboid, mostly bony above, the mouth almost vertical, the lips usually fringed, and the eyes on the flat upper surface of the head. The spinous dorsal is short and may be wanting. The hypercoracoid has a foramen, and the body is naked or covered with small scales. The appearance is eccentric, like that of some of the Scorpænidæ, but the anatomy differs in several ways from that of the mailed-cheek fishes.
The species inhabit warm seas, and the larger ones are food-fishes of some importance. One species, Uranoscopus scaber, abounds in the Mediterranean. Uranoscopus japonicus and other species are found in Japan. Astroscopus y-græcum is the commonest species on our Atlantic coast. The bare spaces on the top of the head in this species yield vigorous electric shocks. Another American species is Astroscopus guttatus. In Japan and the East Indies the forms are more numerous and varied. Ichthyscopus lebeck, with a single dorsal, is a fantastic inhabitant of the seas of Japan, and Anema monopterygium in New Zealand.
Uranoscopus peruzzii, an extinct star-gazer, has been described from the Pliocene of Tuscany.
Fig. 445.—A Star-gazer Ariscopus iburius Jordan & Snyder. Iburi, Japan.