Pseudotolithus Bleeker,1863
Medium to large fish, body usually elongate; mouth large, oblique and terminal (except in P. (Hostia) moori and P. (Pinnacorvina) epipercus, mouth small and inferior, also their teeth small villiform, set in bands on jaws); teeth well-differentiated in subgenera Fonticulus and Pseudotolithus, usually with enlarged outer row on upper jaw, and inner row slightly enlarged on lower jaw. Caudal fin truncate, rhomboidal to asymmetrically pointed. Swimbladder, carrot-shaped, with a pair of anterior appendages, each divided into a group of short anterior branches and a series of very long tubules running backward to well beyond the end of bladder, except in P. (Fonticulus) elongatus, where reaching only to the middle of the main chamber. Otolith (sagitta) ovoid, very thick, twisted around longitudinal axis, its outer surface covered with large granules; shape of sulcus on inner surface variable among subgenera.
Species 6; in Clofnam area 2. (See note below.)
Recent revisions: Trewavas (1962), Longhurst (1969), Chao (1981).
Note. Trewavas (1962) united six species of West African sciaenid fishes in one genus, Pseudotolithus Bleeker, 1863 (type-species, P. typus), based mainly on the morphological resemblance of their swimbladder appendages. She also defined four subgenera, Fonticulus, Hostia, Pinnacorvina and Pseudotolithus, by their external characters. Shapes of sagittae and other characters mentioned above may elevate these subgenera to generic status, therefore subgeneric names are also included here by this author. The genus Pseudotolithus is endemic to tropical eastern Atlantic coasts, with six species.
Species of this genus in the program:
Pseudotolithus senegalensis
Pseudotolithus typus