malacopodous (malakopodus)

[NL. malacopus ( -pod- ), Mala copter i (mal-a-kop'te-ri), n. pl. [NL., pl. of mala copter us, soft-finned: see mala copter ous.] In Johannes Müller's cla ification of fishes, an order of teleost fishes characterized by fin-rays that are soft, jointed, and generally branched, by abdominal ventral fins, and by the persistent communication between the air-bladder and the intestine. It corresponds nearly to the Cuvierian Malacopterygii, but is le comprehensive. mala copter ous (mal-a-kop'te-rus), a. [ II. n. A fish of the order Malacopterygii . Malacopterygii (mal-a-kop-te-rij'i-i), n. pl . [NL., μαλακός , soft, + πτέρυξ (πτερυγ-), πτε ρύγιον , a wing, fin, πτερόν , a wing.] A group of teleost fishes, variously limited; the soft finned or jointed-fin fishes. (a) In Cuvier's system of cla ification, the second division of bony fishes, having soft fin-rays: divided into Abdomina les , Sub brach i at i , and Apodes. (b) In Müller's system, a group of pharyngognathous fishes, having soft fins, and represented by the family Scomberesocide . (c) In Gill's system, an order of tele ost fishes with cranial bones of the teleocephalous type, not specially differentiated from the rest and not coalesced, no Weberian o icles, the shoulder-girdle connected with the cranium, a me so coracoid as well as a hypo coracoid and hyper coracoid bones developed, the air-bladder con Fin of Malacopterygian. nected with the intestinal canal by a pneumatic duct, the ventral fins abdominal, and the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins spinele . The order includes the clupeids, salmonids, and related fishes. (d) In the earliest systems, as Artedi's, some acanthopterygian fishes with slender or flexible spines were loosely included, as stromateids, the wolf-fishes, the lophobranch i ates, etc. - Malacopterygii abdomina les, abdominal soft-finned fishes, Cuvier's second order of fishes, having the ventral fins abdominal in position, behind the pectorals and unattached to the shoulder-girdle. Also called Gasteropterygii. - Malacopterygii apodes, apodal soft-finned fishes, Cuvier's fourth order of fishes, 3590 skeleton, typical of the Malacosteida. There are several species, all deep-sea fishes, of which M. niger is the best-known.