89 



Snout depressed, rounded, somewhat inflated at the tip ; its length, which 

 is less than its breadth, is nearly one-fifth the length of the head. Byes situated 

 in the uppermost part of the anterior third of the head, their major diameter 

 being one-tenth to one-eleventh of the head-length and one-third the width of 

 the convex interocular space. Nostrils large, one at the antero-superior limit 

 of the orbit, the other midway between the first and the tip of the snout. Mouth 

 wide, oblique ; the maxilla, which is half as long as the head, completely encloses 

 the mandible in repose ; villiform teeth in narrowish bands in the jaws, palatines, 

 and vomer, the last arranged in a V with incurved limbs. 



Gill-covers large ; the preoperculum overlaps large portions of all the other 

 opercular bones, extending almost to the hinder edge of the operculum ; the 

 operculum with a feeble flat spur at the postero-superior angle, and another 

 below concealed by the overlying preoperculum ; seventeen long scabrous gill- 

 rakers on the first branchial arch, besides some rudimentary ones above; no 

 pseudobrancniae . 



Scales small, thin, deciduous ; there are twenty-five rows between the dorsal 

 fin and the vent. 



All the fin-rays delicate. The dorsal and anal fins are thick and fleshy ; 

 the highest rays of the dorsal — near the middle of the fin — are higher than the 

 corresponding anal rays, and measure nearly half the maximum body-height ; 

 the dorsal begins well in advance of the gill-opening. Caudal very narrow, its 

 length nearly one-twelfth of the total ; it is confluent with the other vertical fins 

 only at its base. Pectorals entire, pointed, half as long as the head. Ventrals 

 consisting each of a single filament, which is as long as the postorbital portion 

 of the head. 



Colours in spirit : head belly and pectorals black, body brown, vertical fins 

 light grey. 



The largest specimen is about 7- inches long. 



Bay of Bengal, off the Ganjam coast, 1310 fathoms : Arabian Sea, off Malabar 

 coast, 636 and 891 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 12824, 12825, 12827 : 14006, 14007, f . 



Deematoetts, Alcock. 



Dermatorw, Alcock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Oct. 1890, p. 298. 

 Celema, Goods and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 329. 



Head and body compressed, the body low and very elongate, the end of the 

 tail lash-like. 



The bones of the head, though thin, are fairly firm, and are armed with 

 numerous upstanding spines. 

 12 



