Comments on the Classification of the Percoid Fishes !

MATERIAL AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS tively) , for the caudal skeleton by Gosline ( 1961) , and for the recurrent facial nerve by Freihofer (1963) . The other approa ch is to study as many characters as possible in a particular percoid group, e. g., the Japanese serranids ( Katayama, 1959) and carangids (Suzuki, 1962) . The present investigation began as an effort to ascertain the systematic position and relationships of a few percoid genera. It soon became apparent that, except within the narrowest limits, this was impossible withut some overview of percoid classification as a whole. Th is paper is an effort to bring data on the supraoccipital crest and the jaw mechanism to bear on a general percoid classification and to rescue some main outlines of such a classification from the amorphous condition into which they have deteriorated as a result of the widely varied opinions recently expressed on the subject.