33. ALEPOCEPHALID.E - ALEPOCEPHALUS. 257 



FAMILY XXXIIL ALEPOCEPHALIDJE. 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with tliin cycloid or keeled scales, 

 or with naked, prickly skin. Head naked. Lateral line developed. No 

 barbels. Mouth moderate or large. Margin of the upper jaw formed 

 by the premaxillaries and the maxillaries, the former being placed along 

 the upper anterior edge of the latter. Teeth feeble. Opercular ap- 

 paratus complete, its bones thin. No adipose fin. Dorsal fin long 

 and low, posterior, inserted opposite the anal; pectorals short, placed 

 rather high ; ventrals usually well back, sometimes wanting. Gill-open- 

 ings very wide, the membranes free from the isthmus. Pseudobranchia3 

 present. No gular plate. No air-bladder. Stomach curved, without 

 blind sac. Pyloric coeca in moderate number. Fishes of the deep seas; 

 but one species known until recently. Lately 3 genera and 7 species 

 have been described from the abyssal faunas of the mid Atlantic and 

 Pacific. 



(Alepocephalidw Giinther, vii, 477.) 



a. Scales cycloid ; dorsal and anal subequal, opposite each other; mouth small ; jaws 

 nearly even; small teeth in jaws, vonier, and palatines. ALEPOCEPHALUS, 115. 



115. ALEPOCEPEIALUS Eisso. 



(Eisso, Mem. Acad. Nat. Sci. Turin, xsv, 270, 1820: type Alepocephalus rostral us Eisso, 

 from the Mediterranean.) 



Body oblong, compressed. Mouth rather small, the snout somewhat 

 prolonged. Jaws nearly equal in front; a series of small teeth in each 

 jaw and on the vomer and palatines. Eye very large. Gill-membranes 

 entirely separate. Branchiostegals C. Opercular bones thin. Dorsal 

 low and rather long, with a scaly base, opposite and similar to the 

 anal. Pectorals and ventrals rather small. Caudal moderately forked. 

 Scales rather large, thin and cycloid. Deep-sea fishes of the Atlantic 

 and Mediterranean, (a, privative; Af-c'-, scale; xsyaly, head.) 



43O. A. bairdii Goode & Bean. 



Uniform indigo-blue, the color extending to the inside of the mouth 

 and the gill-membranes. Body rather elongate. Head moderately 

 compressed, subconical, the lower jaw included. Maxillary extending 

 nearly to below middle of eye. Eye large, as long as snout. Dorsal 

 slightly in advance of anal. Head 4 in length ; depth 5. D. 22 ; A. 

 25 ; P. 12; V. I, 9 ; pyloric cceca 15; B. 6; scales 7-65-11. L. 24 inches. 

 Grand Banks; dredged at a depth of 200 fathoms. (Goode & Bean.} 



(Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat, Mas. ii, 55, 1879.) 

 Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 10 - 17 



