Halosauridae
by K. J. Sulak
Body anguilliform, compressed. Snout depressed, rounded anteriorly. Dorsal and anal fins without numerous hard spines anteriorly. Dorsal fin short-based and high, Iying wholly anterior to midpoint of body. Anal fin extending from anus to tip of tail. Caudal fin absent. Mouth inferior, premaxilla and maxilla dentigerous, teeth minute and in bands. Branchiostegal membranes completely separate. Scales large, cycloid, deciduous. Lateral line usually bearing enlarged specialized scales. Head with cavernous sensory canals.
Benthopelagic or benthic from continental slope to abyssal plain (400-5,000 m). Circumglobal at tropical and temperate latitudes. Hover and cruise just above substrate. Dioecious; sexual dimorphism apparent in ripe males, which have a darkened snout and enlarged, darkened, tubular anterior nostrils. Spawning seasonally synchronized in some species. Larvae are large leptocephali with vertically elongate bulging eyes; development may take place mesopelagically. Feed predominantly on benthic and epibenthic macrofauna and on meiofauna. No commercial importance.
Genera 3, all in Clofnam area.
Recent revisions: McDowell (1973), Sulak (1977a), Wenner (1978).