154 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



concave in profile, the mouth so large that it gapes back of the eye, the lower jaw 

 projecting, the eye very small, and the gill opening very long. The dorsal fin 

 stands over the anal (the latter is much the longer of the two), both originating 

 close behind the middle of the body. The caudal fin is deeply forked and there 

 is no adipose fin. 



Color. — Cyclothone signata is colorless or a pale gray, except that the blackish, 

 dark silvery lining of the abdominal cavity shows through, that the phosphorescent 

 organs are black rimmed and silver centered, and that there are the following black 

 markings, viz: A Y-shaped mark on the forehead, a series of spots or short trans- 

 verse stripes on the flank, spots between the bases of the dorsal and anal fin rays, 

 one or two transverse streaks across the bases of the caudal rays, and a number 

 of irregular flecks and dots along the back and on the gill covers. "■ 78 



General range. — This is an oceanic fish, very abundant in temperate latitudes 

 in the Atlantic where it lives pelagic from about 100 down to about 250 fathoms, 

 hundreds having often been taken in a single haul. It is also known from the 

 Pacific. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Cyclothone appears within our limits only 

 as a stray from the Atlantic Basin, one 23 mm. long taken in a haul from 30 fathoms 



Fig. 63. — Cyclothone {Cyclothone signata). After Brauer 



on Browns Bank, June 24, 1915, and a second mutilated specimen probably of 

 this species from the Fundy Deep (haul from 90 fathoms), March 22, 1920, being 

 the only definite records. 



THE LANCETFISHES. FAMILY ALEPISAURIDiE 



The lancetfishes have a very high dorsal fin and a small adipose fin like that of 

 salmon or smelt, a deeply forked caudal, a short anal, large pointed pectorals and 

 ventrals, and a wide mouth with large teeth. Several species are known, all 

 belonging to deep water, only one of which has been taken within the province 

 covered by this report. 



56. Lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox Gill) 



Handsawfish 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 595. 



Description. — The combination of high and long dorsal fin with the presence of 

 an adipose fin of itself marks the lancetfish off from all other Gulf of Maine fishes. 



77 » Je For detailed accounts and colored illustrations see Carman (Memoirs, Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har- 

 vard College, Vol. XXIV, 1899, p. 246, plate J, fig. 3. Cambridge), Brauer (Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen • 

 Tiefsee-Expedition, 1898-1899, Band XV, Teil I, 1906, p. 77, PI. VI, fig. 6), Murray and Hjort (The Depths of the Ocean, 1912, 

 PI. I. London). 



