300 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



/; ' . 





Figure 157. — Grammicolepid (Xenolepidichthys americanus), Georges Bank. Drawing by H. B. Bigelow. 



after the original illustration by Firth and Nichols. 



Tail fin 



armed with about 11 or 12 conspicuous, horizon- 

 tally flattened spines, pointing rearward. 



Size. — The only specimen yet seen is about 4 

 inches (100 mm.) long, to the base of its tail fin. 



We need only add, further, of our species, that 

 the forward division of the dorsal fin consists of 5 

 spines, the forward edge of the first saw-edged, and 

 all of them filamentous toward the tip; that the 

 second dorsal fin, of 33 soft rays (separated from 

 the first by a considerable gap), is about as high 

 as two-thirds the diameter of the eye; is of about 

 equal height from end to end, and reaches back 

 to the caudal peduncle; that the tail fin is deeply 

 forked, its tips pointed, and its upper lobe longer 

 than the lower (unless this is the result of mutila- 

 tion) ; that the soft-rayed anal fin, corresponding 

 to the second (soft) dorsal fin, is preceded, after a 

 considerable gap, first by a short, smooth spine, 

 then by another very long spine, saw-toothed 



most of its length, but filamentous toward its tip; 

 and that the ventral fins, of 1 stout, saw-edged 

 spine followed by 6 soft rays, stand a little in 

 advance of the brush-shaped pectorals. 



Color. — After preservation in alcohol, the 

 color is "pale, with a series of dark marks on the 

 midline of the back, and about 10 narrow dark 

 bands extending downward from these to the 

 level of the top of the eye . . . the flattened 

 spines, scattered over the body are blackish. 

 Base of anal with a series of dusky blotches, and 

 posterior part of caudal dusky". 41 



Range and occurrence in the Chilf oj Maine. — So 

 far known only from Georges Bank, where the 

 only specimen yet seen was picked up, in a bucket, 

 from the Sword Fisherman America. A closely 

 related species, X. dalgleishi Gilchrist 1922, is 

 known from the Caribbean, South Africa, and 

 the Philippines. 



along both its front margin and its rear margin for 41 Quoted from the original account by Nichols and Firth. 



