Abstract
Material of three similar and probably related genera of the viviparous ophidiiform family, Bythitidae, has been studied.The monotypic Hastatobythites is only known from the original two specimens; re-examination of the paratype and infor-mation of the holotype clearly demonstrates the validity of the genus. The revision of Saccogaster (Cohen & Nielsen1972) was based on 15 specimens. Since then 29 additional specimens have been collected representing 11 species, threeof which are here described: S. brayae, horrida and nikoliviae. Three of the 11 Saccogaster species, S. melanomycter, S.normae and S. rhamphidognatha, differ so much from the remaining eight that a new genus, Parasaccogaster, is de-scribed. The main diagnostic characters used for the three genera are: A pair of spines on frontal plate behind eyes, spineson snout, length of gill filaments on anterior arch, number and length of developed gill rakers, size of gill opening, thick-ness of skin, head pores, otolith morphology, color marks on head, neuromasts on head and head morphometrics, fin ray counts.References
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