Snout swollen, projecting beyond the ventral mouth. Mental pores surrounded by thickened skin, produced into two short, irregular tags between the median and first lateral pores. Sagitta with a tadpole-shaped impression, the "tail" of which is expanded and deepened as a hollow cone. Gillrakers short and narrow, 6 or 7 on lower limb of first arch. Second part of dorsal fin with 1 spine and 25-229 soft rays. Swim bladder hammer-shaped, with 13 or 14 pairs of arborescent appendages, the first branching in the head.