456 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



15S. Long-finned hake (Urophycis chesteri Goode and Bean) 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2556. 



Description. — The most distinctive characters of the long-finned hake are its 

 enormously elongate ventrals, for the longer of the three rays to which each of these 

 is reduced reaches back nearly to the rear end of the anal fin (about to its fortieth 

 ray), with the next longest ventral ray considerably overlapping the anal. The 

 filamentous dorsal ray is also longer than in the other Gulf of Maine hakes, reach- 

 ing back to about the middle of the second dorsal. Furthermore, there are only 

 about 90 vertical rows of scales from gill opening to tail, but the scales themselves 

 are relatively larger than in either the white or the squirrel hake, the eye larger, 

 the anal fin rays more numerous (about 56), the rear corners of the dorsal and anal 

 fins more rounded, the outline of the latter concave instead of straight (fig. 227), 

 the pectoral fins more slender and more pointed, and the caudal fin narrower and 

 its margin more convex — differences more clearly shown in the illustrations than 

 verbally. The skin of the long-finned hake is curiously loose like that of many 

 deep-sea fishes. 



Fig. 227.— Long-finned hake ( Urophycis chesteri) 



Color. — The color of this hake has never been described from life and unfor- 

 tunately no color notes were made from the only specimen we have seen freshly 

 caught. Old alcoholic specimens are of varying shades of dull red and reddish 

 brown above, dirty or reddish white below, with the caudal fin sooty at its tip, 

 the dorsals of the same color as the back, but with dusky margins, the pectorals 

 and ventrals colorless except that the latter are minutely specked with sooty dots. 



Size. — The collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology contains speci- 

 mens up to 103/2 or 11 inches long, which are the largest so far recorded. 



General range. — This is a deep-water fish, occurring in great abundance on the 

 continental slope off North America from the Laurentian Channel to abreast of 

 Cape Lookout (N. C), chiefly between 100 and 500 fathoms. The shoalest cap- 

 ture of the adult recorded is from 32 fathoms, the deepest from 53S fathoms. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This hake is plentiful all along the seaward 

 slope of Georges Bank below 100 fathoms, where it has been trawled at many sta- 

 tions, 24 and is rivaled in abundance only by the grenadier (Macrourus bairdii, p. 468), 

 so that it may be expected on the bottom of the deep trough of the Gulf of Maine. 



!1 For a complete list ol localities see Goode and Bean (1896, p. 361). 



