168 



ventrals, the bases of which they touch when laid back. The ventrals arise 

 under the middle of the dorsal. 



Length of the adult 3^ inches. 



Bay of Bengal, 573 fathoms ; Andaman Sea, 370 to 419 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 13434, 5Z5. 



Family Alepocephalidce. 



Head almost always naked. Body usually covered with thin cycloid 

 scales, but sometimes naked. Barbels none. Margin of the upper jaw 

 formed by the premaxillse and maxillae, the former being placed along the 

 upper anterior edge of the latter: the maxilla commonly broad and 

 resembling that of the Clupeidce. Gill-openings very wide: opercles 

 complete. Pseudobranchiae present. 



No adipose fin : the dorsal fin belongs to the caudal portion of the 

 back-bone. 



Pyloric caeca few. No air-bladder. 



This family is represented in the depths of the Indian Seas by 12 species 

 belonging to 7 genera. 



Synopsis of the Indian genera of the family Alepocephalidae. 



I. Body scaly : — 



1. Suout normal : body rather elongate : ventrals present : — 



i. Six branchiostegals : a single series of teeth on the pre- 



maxilla?, none on the maxilla? ... ... ... Alepocephalus. 



ii. Seven branchiostegals : a single series of teeth on the pre- 



maxilla? and maxilla? ... ... ... ... Bathytroctes. 



iii. Seven branchiostegals : several series of teeth on the pre- 

 maxillse, a single series on the maxilla? ... ... Narcetes. 



2. Snout normal : body short and elevated : no ventrals ... Platttroctes. 



3. Anterior bones of the head produced to form a tubular snout at 



the end of which the mouth is situated : body rather elongate ... Aolastomomorpha. 



II. Body naked: — 



1. Body moderately elongate: dorsal and anal fins of moderate 



length ... ... ... ... ... Xenodermichthts. 



2. Body exceedingly elongate : dorsal and anal fins very long ... Leptoderma. 



Alepocephalus, Risso. 



Alepocephalus, Uisso, Mem. Ac. Nat. Sci. Turin, XXV. 1820, p. 270: Muller, Abh. Ak. Wise. Berlin, 184R, 

 p. 171 : Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. XIX., p. 169 : Gunther, Cat. Fishes, VII., p. 477 : Goode and 

 Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 86. 



Alepocephalus and Mitchillina, Jordan and Evermann, Fishes N. Araer., pp. 452, 453. 



Body moderately elongate, compressed, covered with thin cycloid scales. 

 Head nuked. Cleft of the mouth of moderate width, Avith the jaws nearly even 



