Zeidae
by J.-C. Quéro
Deep-bodied fishes, the head and body strongly compressed. Mouth terminal, large, oblique, upper jaw very protrusible; maxilla large, smooth, not covered by preorbital bone when mouth closed; no spines or serrae on opercular bones; 4 gills, slit behind last. Body naked or with rudimentary or very small scales, not vertically elongate (cf. Grammicolepidae); scutes often present along belly and bucklers or bony protuberances at bases of dorsal and anal fins.
Midwater or bottom fishes, from close inshore to more than 600 m, solitary or in schools, feeding mainly on other fishes, also crustaceans.
Genera 5; in Clofnam area 3.
Recent revisions: Quero (1978, 1981—north-western Africa), Heemstra (1980 - southern Africa).