Centrolophidae
by R. L. Haedrich
Medium-sized to large fishes with an elongate to deep body, fairly thick. Mouth large. Small conical teeth in a single series in the jaws; no teeth on vomer, palatines or basibranchials. Supra-maxilla present. Seven branchiostegal rays. A single dorsal fin with stout or weak spines preceding the rays; anal fin with 3 spines and 15-30 rays; dorsal and anal fins never falcate, their bases unequal; pelvic fins present, inserting under pectoral fin base. Scales moderate to small, usually cycloid and easily shed, tubed scales of lateral line extend onto caudal peduncle; head conspicuously naked and covered with small pores. Colour silvery green to brown to black. Pelagic deep-water fishes of warm and temperate seas, the oceanic forms sometimes straying into colder regions. Soft-spined species tend to be truly oceanic while hard-spined species tend more to be found in deep water at the edge of the continental shelf, in submarine canyons or associated with oceanic islands. Form loose schools, and may be locally quite abundant. Some are recognized food fishes. Larvae occur in the plankton, and juveniles and young adults commonly associate, often in numbers, with pelagic medusae or floating objects such as boxes or barrels. These pelagic juveniles may occur at times immediately along the coast.
Genera 6 or 7; in Clofnam area 3.
Recent revision: Haedrich (1967).