xenopterygian (zenopterijian)

and n. I. a. Having the characters of or pertaining to the Xenopterygii. II. n. A fish of this suborder. Xenopterygii (zē-nop-te-rij'i-i), n. pl . [ πτέρυξ , wing (fin).] A suborder of teleocephalous fishes, represented by the family Gobiesocidæ , and characterized by the development of a complicated suctorial organ in the pectoral region. The xenopterygians had usually been placed with the lump-fishes and snailfishes, in consequence of their common po e ion of a sucking-disk, which, however, is formed differently in the present suborder, being chiefly developed from the skin of the breast, in connection with the ventral fins. They are mostly fishes of oblong or lengthened coniform with scalele skin and spinele fins, one posterior dorsal fin, more or le nearly opposite the anal, and the sucker either entire or divided. They are small fishes, most common in tropical and warm temperate seas between tidemarks, adherent to rocks. There are 10 genera and 25 or 30 species, as Gobiesox reticulatus, abundant in tide-pools on the Pacific coast of the United States.