10 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



ETMOPTERUS, Rafinesque. 



Spinax, Cuvier, Efegne Animal, 1817, ii, 129.— Muller ami Heni.e, S. 1!. I'liis., 1841, Sfi. 



Acanthidium, Lowe, Proo. Zoiil. Soc, 1839, 91, (type, A. jnisilhim Lowic).— Fislics of Madeira, 1843-60, '40. 



Spiiiacoid sharks, w itli two dorsal fliis, eacli with a siMiie; no anal tin. Month but little 

 arched; a long, deep, strain lit, oblique groove on each side of the mouth. Teeth of the 

 lower jaw with the point so much turned aside that the inner margin of the tooth forms a 

 cutting edge. Upper teeth erect, each witii a long iiointed cusp and one or two small ones 

 on each side. No nuMubraiia nictitans. Spiracles wide, sui)erior, behind the eye. Gill 

 openings narrow. 



North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and southeastern Tacitic. 



ETMOPTERUS SPINAX (Linn^us). (Figure lU.) 



Spiiiar spinax, Linn-.ecs, Syst. Nat., x, 1758, i, 233; xii, 1766, I, 398. 



Spinax nitjer, Bonaparte, Fauna Italiia. Pesci, ni, 1832- '41, tig. 1, pi. CXLI.— Du.vifiRiL, Elasniohr., 441.— 

 GOnther, Cat., VIII, 424.— Coi.LETT, Norgcs Fiskc, 1875, 21.'').— CaI'ki.i.o, Cat. Peix. Port. 1880, 49. 



A Spinax, with .scales tipped by short setitbrm spines, giving a villous ai>pearancetothe 

 skin. First dorsal shorter than second, midway between the second dorsal and eye. 

 Uniform brown or black, or with whitish longitutlinal band along the side of the abdomeu 

 and of the tail. Caudal sometimes with white margin, ((iiinther.) 



The little spinous dogtisli with tricuspid teeth in its upper jaws has not yet been 

 found in the western Atlantic. Unless the naturalists of Europe have been careless, 

 its distribution on that coast is very remarkable. The Norwegians tind it ah)ng their entire 

 coast, from the Christiania Fiord to West Finmark (lat. 09° ;iO'), where it is abundant and 

 produces young in midsummer. In the Mediterranean it is also abundant, occurring at 

 gi-eat depths (ahUa a fintiiilc profiDidita, Canestrini), and it has also been taken in the Atlantic 

 ofit' Lisbon. We can tind no recoid of its having been observed by Frencli or English nat- 

 uralists, unless it has been confounded with the other Ibrin of spiny dogfish — Squalus 

 acauthias, L., — which is al)un(lant at both extremes of the recorded range of Spiiinx xpina.v, 

 and is abundant in tlie Mediterranean as well as in Norway, and al.so on the American 

 coast from New York (lat. 40° 30') northward to Labrador and doubtless to ( ireenland. It is 

 probable that a more careful search may reveal the presence of Spina.r on the Englisli and 

 French coasts, and it may be in America. 



Etmopterun spinax is replaced about Madeira by JJ. piisilhis. 



Etm. graniilosnn of Giinther (Challenger Report VI, Shore Fishes, 10, pi. ii, 2, tig. C), 

 occurs on the southwest coast of South America, where a single specimen l(»i inches long 

 was obtained by the Challenger. 



ETMOPTERUS PUSILLUS (Lowe), .J. & E. (Figure 5.) 



JcanthidiumjynsiUum, Lowe, Proc. Zoiil. Soc. London, 1839, 91.— Trans. Zool. Soc, in, 19. 



Spinax pnsiUus, GCnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., Vlii, 425.— Vaillant, Voy. TravaiUeurand Talisman, 72.— 



CoixETT, Bull. Soc. Zoiil. France, xv, 1890, 219. 

 Spinax hiinaniis, PoEV. Mem. Hist. Nat. (^uba, ii, 340.— Rep. Fis. Nat. Cnlia, 1868, 451 ijidr (iiiutlu^r). 



A Spiniix witli Ixidy smooth, scales very small, each with minute tuberosity, but witliont 

 spines; the first dorsal tin much shorter than the second, midway between the second dorsal 

 spine and the eye; tail relatively shorter than on .S'. xpinax, its length less than tlic s|)ace 

 between the snout and tlie origin of the pectorals; color brown. (Giinther.) 



The Bhdr took a single individual, believed to belong to this species, at Station cviii, 

 off St. Chri.stopher, in L'(»8 fathoms. It had previou.sly been known only from Madeira and 

 Cuba, the Cape Verdes, 290 fathoms {Trdvaillcur), and the licrmndas (Coodc). Lowe had 

 five or six from Madeira, where it is not very rare, never exceeding a foot in length. Tlu 

 species is there taken '• at moderate depths." but the line fisheries of Madeira are all at extra 

 ordinary depths below the surface. 



le 



