370 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



LEPIDION, Swainson. 



Lepidion, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fishes, etc., i. 1838, 318; n, 1839, 188, 300. 



Haloporpliyrus, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 1862,358. — Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., 800. 



Gadoids having an elongate, compressed, hake like body. Scales very small, covering 

 not only the body but the entire head, even to the gill-membranes. Snout produced, de- 

 pressed. Mouth rather large, subinferior. Jaws with bands of villiform teeth; vomerine 

 teeth in a small roundish patch; palatines toothless. Dorsal composed of a very short and 

 a very long division. The anterior ray of the first dorsal filamentous and produced. Anal 

 deeply notched. Ventrals narrow, composed of 6 rays, one of them filamentous. Caudal 

 truncate. A barbel upon the chin. Branchiostegals 7.* 



LEPIDION RISSOI, Swainson. (Figure 323.) 



Gadus lepidion, Risso, Ichth. Nice, 1810, 118, pi. \i, fig. 40. 



Lota lepidion, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. Mend., m, 1826, 218. — Bonaparte, Catalogo Metodico, 44. 

 Lepidion Rissoi, Swainson, op. tit., i, 1838, 31!). 

 Lepidion rubescens, Swainson, <>p. lit., n, 1889, 307. 



Haloporpliyrus lepidion, Giglioli, Nature, January 1, 1880. — VinCIGUERRA, Ami. Mus. Civ. Genoa, xvm, 558, 

 taf. in.— GfNTHER, Challenger K<i>ort. xxu, 91.— Canestrini, Pesci d'ltalia, 157. 



A Lepidion having a broad, thick, flat head, covered with scales, and with an 

 occipital keel. The length of the head contained 4.1 times in the total length of the fish. 

 Snout depressed, short, obtuse. Mouth broad, its angle under the anterior portion of the 

 orbit. Upper jaw broad, longer than the mandible. Teeth small, cardiform, on the jaws 

 and vomer. Eye large, round, its diameter contained 3£ times in the length of the head, 

 and nearly equal to the length of the snout. Tip of maxillary extending beyond vertical 

 from the middle of the orbit. Scales very small, from 155 to 100 in the lateral line, and 

 about 11 longitudinal rows bet ween the first dorsal and the lateral line, which is a little curved 

 anteriorly, but straight after it passes the vertical from the origin of the anal. The first 

 dorsal placed far forward, in vertical from the insertion of the pectorals; it is composed of 

 only 4 rays, the first of which is much prolonged; its length two fifths the total length of 

 the fish. The second dorsal with a very long base. The median rays of the anal are much 

 shorter than the others, giving it a cresecntie emarginate outline. Caudal long, rounded. 

 Ventrals very long, their tips reaching the anus, but rarely extending beyond those of the 

 pectoral rays. 



Eadial formula : D. 4+52; A. 40-48; V. (i. 



Color, grayish-brown with a reddish tint. The second dorsal blue, edged with black; 

 the other fins more or less brown in alcoholic specimens. The caudal and anal blackish, 

 as are the opercles. 



This species, originally described from Nice in 1810, was said by Risso to be very rare, 

 and only taken at considerable depths in the month of August. It has never been seen 

 elsewhere than at Nice, where Giglioli obtained specimens in September, 1870. 



The Madeiran form identified with this by Giinther before he had had the opportunity 

 of examining a specimen, has since been determined to be distinct, and was renamed by 

 Gignoli, Haloporphyrm Gimtheri. 



LEPIDION GtJNTHERI, (Giglioli), Goode and Bean. 



Haloporphyrus lepidion, Gunthek, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 358. — Johnson, Aim. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1862, 



x, 166. 

 Haloporphyrus Ciintheri, GIGLIOLI, Nature, January 1, 1880. — Vinciguerra, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, xvm, 



558. — Gunther, Challenger Report, XXII, 90, pi. xvm, tig. A. 



* According to Dr. Giinther (v. 4, p. 358), "the generic name Lepidion is preoccupied," but it is not stated 

 in what way. When it is remembered that Dactylopus was said to lie preoccupied because Meyer had named 

 a group of extinct reptiles Dactylopoda. It will he understood why as no record of an earlier use of Lepidion 

 than 1838 appears in the nomenclators, we must adopt it till further information is given as to the nature of 

 the supposed preoccupation. Savigny had given the name Lepidia to a genus of worms in 1817, and Lepelletier 

 had named Lepisia a genus of beetles in 1825, but those are sufficiently distinct from the Swainsouiau name. 

 —Gill. 



