Molidae
by E. Tortonese
Beak without median sutures. Body compressed, high, posteriorly truncate, without caudal peduncle. Skin rough. Gill openings small, in front of pectorals. Fins without spiny rays; dorsal and anal opposed, short and high, confluent with a pseudocaudal ('clavus'); ventrals absent.
Slow-swimming, epipelagic plankton feeders. In warm and temperate zones of all oceans. When young in schools, later solitary. Pelagic eggs; several developmental stages.
Genera 3 (monotypic); all in Clofnam area.
Recent revision: Fraser-Brunner (1951).