208 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN 



Family TRICHIURIDvE. 



Trichiuriui, Bonaparte, Catalogo Metodico, Pesci Europei, 18-16, 78 (Subfam. 136). 

 Trichiuroidei, Bleeker, Euuin. Spec. Pise. Arch, lndico, 1X59, 64. 



Trichiuridas, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., n, 1860, 342.— Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Thila., 1S63, 221; 

 Arr. Fara. Fish. 1872, 8 (No. 77); Standard Nat. Hist, in, 1885, 206. 



Scombroidea, with very elongate, compressed, scaleless body, tapering to a point, and 

 without caudal. Dorsal and anal long, low, continuous, confluent posteriorly. Pectorals 

 normal. Ventrals absent or rudimentary. Moutb wide; jaws armed with very strong, un- 

 equal teeth. Lateral line present. Air bladder present. Gills 4, with a slit behind the 

 fourth. Gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus. 



In addition to the typical genus Trichiurus, characterized by the absence of ventrals, 

 there is a Chinese form, Uupleurogrammus (with a single species, E. muticus), in which the 

 ventrals are represented by a pair of very small scales. 



TRICHIURUS, Linnaeus. 



Trichiurus, Linn.eus, Systema Naturae, Ed. x, 1, 246; Ed. XII, I, 429.— Ccvier, Rcgne Animal, Ed. 1, 1817, 

 246; Ed. 2, 1829, 218.— Cuvieb and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Pois>. \ in, 235.— Gl miier. Cat. Fish. Brit. 

 Mus. ii, 346.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 212. 



Upturns, ARTEDI, Spec. Pise, 101.— Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. l'Uila., 1862, 120. 



Body very elongate, band-like, tapering to a fine point. Head long; cleft of mouth 

 wide; teeth very strong and unequal in the jaws: teeth on the palatines, none on the 

 vomer. Preorbital covering cleft of mouth posteriorly. A single dorsal along whole of 

 back; anal very long, of short detached spines, minute or hidden in the skin; ventral tins 

 reduced to scale-like appendages or absent; pectorals small. No caudal. No scales. 

 Lateral line decurved, concurrent with the belly. Vertebra', 30+120. Color, silvery. 



TRICHIURUS LEPTURl'S, Linn.eus. (Figure 217.) 



The Scabbard Fish. 



Trichiurus lepturus, Linnvei/s, Syst. Naturae, ed. x, 1758, I, 246. GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., n, 346; 



Challenger Report, vi, 66; xxn, 39. — Jordan ami Gilbert, Hull. \vi, U. S. N. M., 422. 

 Trichiurus argenteus, Shaw, Zoology (Fishes), iv, 90, pi. XII. 

 Lepturus argenteus, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1862, 126. 



A Trichiurus with long, pointed, snout whose length is about equal to that of pectoral. 

 .Maxillary reaching nearly to vertical from middle of eye. Length of head, 7i times its 

 length; height of body, Hi. 



Color silvery, with darker dorsal. 



Radial formula: I). 135; A. ca, 100. 



This is a well-known form, frequently found in shoal waters from Cape Cod to the 

 West Indies, and needs no description here. 



The Challenger obtained the scabbard-fish off Inosima, Japan, at a depth of 345 fath- 

 oms. Young were obtained by the U. S. Fish Commission at station 2273, at 17 fathoms; 

 2289, at 7 fathoms; 2121-2, at 31-31 fathoms. 



A commercial fishery of considerable importance exists at Jamaica. This species 

 enters the estuary of the St. Johns River iu Florida, and has been known to leap into row- 

 boats. Linnaeus wrote of it in 1758: Totus argenteus exiliens ex aqua saj>c in cymbani. 

 (Systema Naturre, ed. x, I, 240.) 



Family CORYPH^NID^. 



/ Corifenidi, Rafinesque, Imlicc d' Ittiologia Sieiliana, 1810, 29. 



CoryphcenidoB, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 1839, 80.— Swainson, Nat. Hist., etc., n, 1839. 177.— Bona- 



tarte, Catalogo Metodico, Pesci Europei, 1846, 76 (Fam. 64).— Gill, Arr. Fam. Fishes, 1872, 8 (No. 81, 



name only). — Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 458. 

 Coryphanini, Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. Italics, Pesci, 1842, Introduzione. — Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 



ii, 404. 

 Coryphcenoidei, Bleeker, Tentamen, 1859, xxm (Familia 101). 



