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The Mullets

Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with rather large, cycloid scales; no lateral line, but the furrows often deepened on the middle of each scale so as to form lateral streaks; mouth small, the jaws with small teeth, or none, various in form; premaxillaries protractile; gill-openings wide, the membranes separate, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals 5 or 6; gillrakers long and slender; pseudobranchiae large; two short dorsal fins, well separated, the anterior of 4 stiff spines, the last one of which is much shorter than the others; second dorsal longer than the first, similar to anal; anal spines 2 or 3, graduated; ventral fins abdominal, not far back; caudal forked; air-bladder large and simple; intestine long; peritoneum usually black.