188 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



the preoperculum armed with a spine each. One dorsal fin, the anterior rays of which are 

 spinous; veutrals with G soft rays; pectoral symmetrical; caudal deeply forked. (Giinther.) 

 Eight species of Trachichthys are known, of which one is found in the Atlantic, and all 

 of these have been described from floating specimens, presumably originating in the ocean 

 depths. T. intermedins, however, was obtained by the Challenger near New Zealand, at a 

 depth of 275 fathoms, and by the Investigator in the Bay of Bengal, 272 fathoms; and 

 previously by Hector, off Cape Farewell, New Zealand, in 400 fathoms. (Hector, Tr. New 

 Zealand lust, vn, 245, pi. xi, fig. 18 A. Giinther, Challenger Keport, xxn, 24, pi. v., fig. 

 D. Alcock, Aun. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1889 (Nov.), 380. 



TRACHICHYTHYS DARWTNII, Johnson. (Figure 207.) 



Trachichthys Darwinii, Johnson, Proc. Zoiil. Soc. London, 1866, 311, pi. xxxn. — GOnther, Challenger Report, 



xxn, 25. 

 Trachichthys japonicus, SteindaCHNEr and Doderlein, Denksehr. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss., Wien, 1883, xlvii, 



218, pi. n. 



The height is two-fifths of the total length to base of caudal. The head is two- 

 sevenths of the total length. Mouth very large and nearly vertical. Its superior border 

 formed by the styliform iutermaxillary. A wide notch at the symphysis of the intennaxil- 

 laries. Maxillary long and stout, dilated below, with a large supplementary striate plate, as 

 in Beryx. The maxillary reaches the vertical from the middlle of the eye. Lower jaw 

 included, its bones strongly and deeply striate. Intermaxillary and mandible with narrow 

 bands of villiform teeth, the innermost row a little enlarged. Bands of villiform teeth on 

 the palate. A small round patch of similar teeth on the vomer. Nostrils close together 

 near the upper anterior part of the orbit, the posterior the larger. Eye nearly round, 

 placed high, but not reaching the profile, its length 4£ times in that of the head. Edge 

 of opercle irregularly sen-ate or sinuous. A spine at the lower end of the subopercle. 

 Large, imbricated, striate, bony plates (ten in the specimen) form a ventral keel extending 

 from the root of the ventral fin to the vent, increasing in size from each end of the series 

 to the middle. Dorsal origin behind the root of the pectoral; nearer the snout than the 

 base of the caudal. The fourth dorsal spine the longest. Soft dorsal higher than spinous, 

 the third and fourth rays longest. A series of large, rough scales, somewhat trapezoidal 

 in shape, at each side of the dorsal and anal tins. The pectoral does not reach nearly to 

 them, but to the vertical of the seventh dorsal spine. Ventral inserted under root of pec- 

 toral, consisting of a long, stout, striated spine and six branched rays. Caudal deeply 

 forked, membrane between its rays covered with rows of small scales. Lateral line on the 

 upper part of the body, not following the curve of the back. , 



The head and all the flusareof abrightred color; the back is of brownishred, passing 

 into gray on the sides; the belly is white, tongue black; also the iusidc of the mouth and 

 gill-covers. Sometimes the inside of the gill-covers is marked with black patches. Palate 

 red. 



Radial formula: D. vni, 14; A. in, 12; V. I, 6; L. lat., 27. Pyloric caeca 13. 



This species differs from the Antarctic one in having the bones of head more solid, nar- 

 rower, muciferous; a smaller eye and the spinous dorsal fin more differentiated from the 

 soft. The scales are small. Abdominal scutes ten. The height of the body is less than 

 half the total length (without caudal); the diameter of the eye two-ninths of the length of 

 the head. No projecting suprascapulary spine. The third and fourth dorsal spines are 

 the longest, and the seventh is shorter than the eighth. 



Only one specimen, 19 inches long, was obtained off Madeira in the month of April. Mr. 

 Johnson adds that from the protruded stomach and inflated membrane about the eye, it 

 may be inferred that the fish came from a great depth. Like so many other Madeiran 

 fishes, this species occurs also in Japan, where it was met with by Doderlein, who seems to 

 have been unacquainted with Johnson's description. (Giinther.) 



