302 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



A resident of the deep waters in 200 to 400 fathoms on the offshore banks. Many 

 specimens have been received from the halibut schooners, and it has been taken in 100 

 fathoms off Finmark. 



The Albatross obtained it from station 2429, in 42° 55' 30" N. lat., 50^ 51' W. long., at 

 a depth of 471 fathoms, and the National Museum has a specimen (Cat. No. 21845) taken 

 by one of the Gloucester fishing vessels in 1878 on the fishing- banks. 



Family PTILICHTHYID^E. 



Ptilichthyinm, Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 369 (subfamily of Maatacembelidtr). 

 PtilichthyidcB, Gill, Standard Nat. Hist., vm, 1885, 259; Century Dictionary, 4827. 



Acanthopterygians with very elongate, anguilliform body, tapering to a point; small 

 head, mouth oblique, with projecting lower jaw; branchial apertures restricted; dorsal very 

 long, with about 00 spines and 145 rays; anal long and ventrals absent. Scales none. 

 Gill-membranes broadly united. 



PTILICHTHYS, Bean. 



Ptilichthys, Bean, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus., iv, 1881. 157 (type, Ptilichthys Goodei, Bean). — Jordan and Gilbert, 

 Bull, xvi, U.S.Nat.Mns., 369. 



Body elongate, serpentiform, apparently covered with very thin, scattered scales. 

 Mandible little movable, projecting, with a skinny appendage at tip. Cleft of the mouth 

 narrow. Minute teeth in a single series in the jaws, becoming larger and slightly curved 

 posteriorly. Margin of the upper jaw formed entirely by the intermaxillaries. Maxilla 

 curved forward below. The gill opening extends up to the middle of the base of the pec- 

 toral; the membrane is slightly einargiuate behind and is free from the isthmus; 4 gills, a 

 slit behind the fourth. Gill-rakers stout and short, moderate in number. Spinous portion 

 of the dorsal consisting of many isolated spines, a narrow membrane behind each. Soft 

 dorsal and anal with many rays. End of the tail free. Neutrals none. 



The type species, Ptilichthys <li>t»lri (Figure 304), was taken near the Aleutian Islands. 

 Everything seems to indicate that it is an inhabitant of deep water. 



Family ZOARCIDyE. 



ZoarcMdce, Swaisson, Nat. Hist, and Class. Pishes, 1839, n, 181, 283. 



Zoarcidce, (Jill, Mem. National Acad. Sci., vi, 1893. 



Lycodidn, GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mas., iv, 1862, 319. — Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila.. [V,319; op. cit. 



1884, 179.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U.S.Nat. Mus., 783. 

 Lycodoidce, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1863, 255. 



Physoclystous fishes having body elongate, more or less anguilliform, naked or studded 

 with minute cycloid scales. Head large, unarmed; mouth large, with conical teeth in jaws, 

 and .sometimes on vomer and palatines. Gill-membranes broadly united to isthmus, 

 branchial apertures lateral, not confluent; pseudobranchiae present; gills 4, a slit behind 

 the fourth. Dorsal and anal fins elongate, continent around the tail, of soft rays only, or the 

 former with a few posterior spines covered with a thick skin; pectorals small; ventrals 

 jugular, rudimentary or suppressed. Lateral line obsolete or nearly so. Gill-rakers small; 

 pyloric cajca rudimentary ; vent not close to head. 



KEY TO TnE SUBFAMILIES AND GENERA OF ZOARCID.E. 



I. Dorsal fin low behind, some of its posterior rays short and spine-like; ventrals small Zoarcina 



A. Scales present ; teeth strong, conic, in jaws only [Zoarces] 



II. Dorsal fin continuous l/yco&ina 



A. Ventral tins present. 



1. Vomer and palatines toothed. 

 a. Scales present. 



I. Body moderately elongate Lycodes 



II. Body very elongate. 



* Spines of vertical tins normal Lycenciielys 



** Spines laterally reenforced Lycodonus 



