PDF - Wallace Online

440 GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. [part iv.
Family 55.—OPHIDIID^. (16 Genera, 43 Species.)
" Marine fishes, with more or less elongate bodies, the dorsal
and anal fins united, and the ventral fins rudimentary or absent."
Distribution.—Almost universal ; from Greenland to New
Zealand, but most abundant in the Tropics.
Ophidium and Ammodytes occur in British seas ; Lucifuga
inhabits subterranean fresh waters in Cuba.
Family 56.—MACEOURID^. (3 Genera, 21 Species.)
"Marine fishes, with the body terminating in a long, com-
pressed tapering tail, and covered with spiny, keeled or striated
scales."
Distribution.—North Atlantic from Greenland to Madeira
and the Canary Islands, Mediterranean, Japanese and Australian
seas.
None of these fishes have occurred in the British seas.
Family 57.—ATELEOPODID^. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
" Marine fishes, with the naked body terminating in a long
compressed, tapering tail."
Distribution.—Japan.
Family 58.—PLEUEONECTID^. (34 Genera, 185 Species.)
"Marine carnivorous fishes, with strongly compressed flat
bodies, one side of which is colourless, and eyes unsymmetrically
placed, both on the coloured side. They inhabit the sandy
bottoms of shallow seas, and often ascend rivers."
Distribution.—Universal, on Arctic, Temperate, and Tropical
coasts.