Melamphaidae
by G. E. Maul
Small subcylindrical fishes with large head, blunt short snout and long abruptly narrowed caudal peduncle. Teeth minute in single rows or in bands in both jaws. Pelvic fins 1 + 6-8; caudal fin with III-IV procurrent spines. Scales moderate to very large, deciduous, cycloid.
Adults and half-grown bathypelagic, never common but abundance varies much from species to species. Nothing precise seems to be known about their food or reproduction. Of no commercial importance.
Genera 5; in Clofnam area 4.
Recent revisions: Ebeling (1962); Moss (1962); Ebeling and Weed (1963, 1973).