ABSTRACT
Halfbeaks are elongate fishes, usually with a prolonged lower jaw (except in Chriodorus and Oxyporhamphus) and a short triangular upper (except in Oxyporhamphus) jaw. Nostrils are in a pit anterior to the eyes. No spines in fins; dorsal and anal fins posterior in position; pelvic fins abdominal in position, with 6 soft rays; pectoral fins usually short. Lateral line running down from pectoral fin origin and then posteriorly along ventral margin of body. Scales moderately large, cycloid, easily detached. The Hemiramphidae contains 14 genera and subgenera and 115 species and subspecies (Collette 2004) of which five genera and nine species (one with two subspecies) occur in the western central North Atlantic (Collette 2003d).
