810 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



446. CH1ASMODON Johnson. 

 (Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1853, 408: type Chiasmodon nigcr Johnson.) 



Body elongate, compressed, and tapering posteriorly, naked ; belly 

 pendent, its walls membrauaceous, capable of great dilation. Mouth 

 very large; lower jaw longer than upper, without barbel; both jaws 

 with two series of large, pointed teeth, some of the anterior being very 

 large and movable; vomerine teeth none; palatines with teeth similar 

 to those in the jaws. Gills 4. No pseudobrauckia3. Gill-openings 

 very wide, the membranes joined to the isthmus for a short distance. 

 Dorsal fins two; anal single; ventrals inserted below pectorals, each of 

 five soft rays. Tail not isocercal, truncate at base of caudal. Caudal 

 forked, free from dorsal and anal. Singular fishes of the deep sea, re- 

 markable for their ability to swallow fishes of many times their own 

 size by means of the great distensibility of the walls of the body. The 

 position of this genus in the family Gadidce is doubtful. (/^dajj.^ a mark 

 of the form of the letter X; O<JWK, tooth; the two anterior canines cross- 

 ing each other when depressed.) 



125Q. C. nager Johnson. 



Entirely black. Ilead compressed, elongate, the crown flat, its depth 

 less than half its length; maxillary reaching angle of preopercle ; both 

 jaws armed with long, pointed, wide-set teeth, nearly all of which are 

 movable; two anterior teeth of upper jaw very long, crossing each other 

 when depressed; three anterior pairs of teeth in lower jaw likewise pro- 

 longed, the third pair the longest; palatines with a longer, fixed tooth 

 in front. Eye moderate, above the anterior part of maxillary, 4 in 

 head, shorter than snout, as wide as'interorbital space. Lateral line in 

 a longitudinal groove. First dorsal of slender ra.\s, its base 2J in that 

 of second dorsal; anal commencing behind second dorsal, its anterior 

 rays without connection with vertebral column; posterior rays of anal 

 and dorsal very feeble; pectoral as long as head without snout; ven- 

 tral half as long as pectoral. Head 3i. D. 11-1'S; A. 27; P. 13; V. 5. 

 L. 12 inches. (Giinthcr.) Deep seas; taken at Madeira and off the 

 coast Of Massachusetts. 



(Johnson, 1. <_. 408: Chiaxmodiut nigrr Giinthrr, v, -i:?."i.) 



FAMILY CXXL MACRURIDJE. 



(The Grenadiers.) 



Body elongate, tapering into a very long compressed tail, which ends 

 in a point; scales moderate, very rough, usually keeled or spinous. 



