3G4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



FAMILY LIV. SYXAPIIOBRANCHID^. 

 (The Synaphobranchoid Eels.) 



Body eel shaped, covered with linear, imbedded scales placed at right 

 angles, as in Anguilla. Lateral line present. Head long and pointed, 

 the snout produced. Mouth very long, the eye being over the middle of 

 its cleft. Jaws about equal ; teeth small, sharp, in a broad band in each 

 jaw, becoming a single series anteriorly; those of inner series in upper 

 jaw and of outer series in mandible somewhat enlarged ; vomeriue teeth 

 in a narrow band anteriorly. Gill-openings inferior, horizontal, close 

 together, convergent forward, somewhat confluent at the surface, but 

 separated by a considerable isthmus within. Tongue long, free only at 

 the sides. Nostrils large, the anterior with a short tube, the posterior 

 before the lower part of the eye. Pectoral well developed ; dorsal low, 

 beginning behind vent; anal longer than dorsal, rather high, its rays 

 slender, branched, not imbedded in the skin; vertical fins confluent 

 around the tail. Vent near the anterior fourth of body. Muscular and 

 osseous systems well developed. Stomach very distensible. Deep-sea 

 fishes; a single genus with 4 species known. 

 (Murccnida; group Synaphcibrandhina Giinlhrr, viii, 22-23.) 



176. SYNAPIIOBRANCIIUS Johnson. 



(Johnson, Prop. Zoiil. Soc. London, 1862, 109: type Synaphobranchus kaupii Johnson = 

 J/ii ;<(// i>in nata Gronow.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (ffuva^TJz, joined; , 



59O. S. pilBliatllS (Gronow) Giintlirr. 



Uniform brown, rather darker below ; the vertical fins darker behind, 

 light-edged anteriorly; inside of mouth blue-black ; gill openings dark. 

 .laws siibe|iial in length, sometimes the lower, sometimes the upper tin- 

 longer; the upper with a projecting lleshy tip; maxillary reaching to 

 opposite -ill openings, which are rather longer than the large eye. 

 Head ;;.', in distance I'roni snout to dorsal, I';' in distance to anal, 85 in 

 len-tli. K\e broader than interorltital space, rather nearer t ip of snout 

 than end of maxillary. Pectoral slender, longer than snout. Xew- 

 fonndland to Madeira, "a common resident of the deep waters of the 

 off-shore banks in -00 to -'WO fathoms, where individuals are often taken 

 on the fishermen's trawl lines." 



(Munrnii ]iinna/(i (irmimv, S\st. IHi. rd. Cray, l-.M, U>; Giintlu-r, viii, 22; Goode & 

 B.-IIII, Bull. E.SH.-X hint. xi, 1^7'J, 2<>.) 



