Megalopidae
by J.-C. Hureau
Body slender, more or less compressed laterally. Eye large, with adipose tissue in large specimens. Mouth large, terminal or superior. Maxillae large, extending far beyond eye in adults. Presence of a bony gular plate between the arms of the lower jaw. Teeth all small, often bluntly villiform, on jaws, vomer, palatines, pterygoids, tongue and basibranchials. Branchiostegal rays 23-35. Lateral line present. Scales large, missing on head. All fins with soft (segmented) rays exclusively. Dorsal fin over or somewhat behind pelvics, entirely before anal fin, last finray filamentous. Pectoral and pelvic fins with a rather long axillary scale. Caudal fin forked.
Pelagic inshore fish, the young coming into the shallow waters. Feeding on fishes, mainly those forming schools.
Genera 2; in Clofnam area 1.
Recent revisions: Hildebrand (1963), Pereira and Saldanha (1977).