454 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



X-ray to be the third interneural was located far- 

 ther posteriorly than in the other species and ap- 

 peared to articulate with the rudimentary spine. 

 All species appear to have seven pterygiophores, 

 although there may be a question in P. macidatus 

 as to whether the bone with which the minute 

 spine articulates is properly termed an interneural 

 or a pterygiophore. 



Soft dorsal. — On all material there were nine 

 segmented soft rays, eight of which were branched. 



Pectoral. — Counts on 27 specimens ranged from 

 15 (twice) to 17 (once). In an 83.5-mm. speci- 

 men the first and the last two rays were not 

 segmented. The first ray was the last to segment ; 

 it was segmented in a 140.3-mm. specimen. In 

 the 83.5-mm. specimen, the first two and the last 

 two rays were not branched, but the last two rays 

 were branched at approximately 138 mm. The 

 first two rays never branched. 



Pelvic. — Eays numbered I, 5 — all five soft rays 

 branched and segmented by 82.5 mm. 



Anal. — Kays numbered I, i, 6 on all material. 



Caudal. — Principal rays numbered i, 7 + 6, i on 



10 specimens. The secondary rays were overgrown 

 with tissue in all material. None of the material 

 was stained. It was not possible to count the 

 niunber of secondai-y rays, even in the X-ray speci- 

 mens (fig. 42). 



Gill Rakers 



Total. — Total numbei-s of gill rakers of 25 speci- 

 mens were correlated with size ranges (table 19, 

 p. 449). They ranged from 26 to 33 with 26, 27, 

 and 33 encountered only once each. The larger 

 specimens averaged fewer gill rakers as the rudi- 

 ments become overgrown with tissue. 



Lower I'mib and ceratohrancMal hone. — The 

 lower-limb gill rakers and those of the cerato- 

 branchial bone are discussed and compared with 

 those of n . parvus in the section on Z7. parvus 

 (fig. 35). 



The material from the more southern latitudes 

 tended to have higher numbers of gill rakers on 

 the ceratobranchial bone; 2 of the 3 specimens 

 with 16 are from Brazil and the other from St. 

 Croix. 



Table 19. — Relation of total numbers of gill rakers to standard length of 25 specimens of MuUoidichthys martinious 

 [The upper number Is the number of specimens, and the number in parentheses below is the approximate percentage for the respective size range] 



