FISHES OF NEW YORK 11 



Class MARSIPOBRANCHII 



Order HYPEROARTII 

 Family JPETROMYZONTIIDAE 



Lampreys 

 Genus PETROMYZON (Artedi) Linnaeus 



Lampreys with the supraoral lamina armed with two or three 

 separate teeth, pointed, and close together, not forming a cres- 

 cent-shaped plate; anterior lingual tooth with a median depres- 

 sion; buccal disk large, with numerous teeth arranged in con- 

 centric series; dorsal fins separate, the second joined to the 



caudal. 



1 Petromyzon marimis Linnaeus 



Great Sea Lamprey; Lamprey Eel 



Petromyzon marimis LINNAEUS, Sy&t. Nat. ed. X, 230, 1758; MITCHILL, 



Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 461, 1815; GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. 



Mus. VIII, 501, 1S70; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



11, 1883; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 10, pi. I, fig. 



3, 1S96. 

 Petromyzon americamts LE SUEUR, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Phila. I, 383, 1818; 



DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 379, pi. 66, fig. 216, 1842; STORER, Hist. 



Fish. Mass. 275, pi. XXXVIII, fig. 4, 1867. 

 Petromyzon appendix DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 381, pi. 64, fig. 211, 



1842 (young). 



Body cylindric, eellike, stout, somewhat compressed behind. 

 The mouth is terminal, subcircular in shape and suctorial. It 

 is strongly armed with large conical teeth or cusps mounted on 

 papillae, those of the inner series being bicuspid. Guarding the 

 throat are crescent-shaped plates, bearing pectinate lingual 

 teeth; a pair of these plates on either side and another pair 

 below them. The mandibulary plate has seven cusps. 



There are seven branchial apertures on each side of the head, 

 the first not far behind the eye; the distance of the last opening 

 from the tip of the snout is contained about five times in the 

 total length. Eye rather small, covered by membrane. The 

 first dorsal originates in about the middle of the length; it is 

 little developed and well separated from the second dorsal 

 which is confluent with the anal. The anal is very low and 



