The Tilefishes
BODY more or less elongate, fusiform or compressed; head subconical, the anterior profile usually convex; suborbital without bony stay; cranial bones not cavernous; opercular bones mostly unarmed; mouth rather terminal, little oblique; teeth rather strong, none on vomer or palatines; premaxillaries protractile, each usually with a blunt, posterior canine; maxillary without supplemental bone; pseudobranchiae well developed; gill-membranes separate, more or less free from the isthmus; scales small, ctenoid; lateral line present, complete, more or less concurrent with the back; dorsal fin long and low, usually continuous, the spinous portion always lower than soft part, but never obsolete; anal very long, its spines few and feeble; caudal fin forked.