118 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



ALEPISAURUS (CAULOPUS) ALTIVELIS, Poey. 



Alepisaurns altivelis, Poey, Mem. Hist. Nat. Ciil).a, II, 1858, 302. 

 Alepldosiiiiriis allivelis, GiJJiTnER, loc. cit., aud in Cliallenger Report, xxii, 203. 



Length of the head is more than twice the height of tlie body, and contained CJ times 

 in the total (witii the caudal). Dorsal fiu much elevated; pectoral elongate, but terminat- 

 ing at a great distance from the ventral; ventral about half as long as the head. Caudal 

 lobes equal in length. 



Radial formuia: D. 40; A. 17; P. 16; V. 13. 



The type of this species was about 3 feet long, and was obtained by Cuban fishermen 

 at a great depth. Poey had another form, somewhat different, since described by Gill 

 uuder the name Caulopus FocyL* 



Family PARALEPIDID>E. 



Paralepidina, GtiNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., v, 18C4, 418 (group under Scopelidce). 

 rarultpididce, Gill, Arrangement, Families of Fishes, 1872, 16 (Family No. 162). 



Body elongate, somewhat compressed, formed much as in a Barracuda, covered with 

 cycloid scales of moderate or rather large size. Head long, usually scaly on the sides. 

 Mouth very large, lower jaw projecting. Premaxillary not i^rojectile, very long and slender, 

 forming the entire margin of the upper jaw. Maxillary long and slender, closely adherent 

 to the premaxillary. Teeth rather strong, pointed, in single series on the jaws and pala- 

 tines; some of them on lower jaw and palatines sometimes very long and fting like, and 

 most of them freely depressible. Opercvdar bones thin. Pseudobranchia- present. Gill 

 membranes separate, free from the isthmus. Bianchiostegals, about 7. Gill rakers short, 

 sharp, spine-like. Eye large. Lateral line present, its scales usually enlarged. Dorsal tin 

 short and small, behind the middle of the body, nearly or quite over theventrals. Adipose 

 fin preseut; anal fin low, rather long; caudal fin short, narrow, forked; pectorals rather 

 small, placed low. Pyloric c;eca none. No air bladder. Phosphorescent spots few or none. 

 [Jordan.) 



In this family are at present included six or more supposed species of pelagic fishes of 

 small size, which are believed to occur only in the deep waters of the Atlantic and Pacific, 

 which in structure recall to mind the genus Alepoeephalus, but which in general appearance 

 are more like Sphyiyrna. There are two groups. 



Those of the Sudis type, which is distinguished by the presence of three or five very 

 long, fang-like teeth on each side of the lower jaw, has not yet been found in the Atlantic 

 Basin itself. Sitdis liyaUna of Risso has long been known from the Mediterranean. S. ringens 

 of Jordan and Gilbert was collected by Jordan in 1880 in the Santa Barbara Channel, Cal- 

 ifornia. 



The Paralepis type is represented by four species : one, P.coregoitoides, from the Mediter- 

 ranean, P. sphyrcvnoides, from the Mediterranean and also from Madeira; one, P. borealis, 

 from the Arctic waters of North America, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward, and 

 one, P. coruscans, very similar to the latter, and found uuder similar conditions in Puget 

 Sound. It is probable that with more material the number of species may be considerably 

 lessened. There are two si>ecies described from Nice which we have not been able to study, 

 viz., /'. Cnvieri, Bonaparte, and P. speciosus, Bellotti. The types of the latter are said to be 



in Milan. 



PARALEPIS, Eisso. 



raralepis, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. M<=rid., ill, 1826, 472.— GtiNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., v, 418. 



Head and body elongate, compressed, covered with deciduous scales, those of the lateral 

 line being the largest. Cleft of the mouth very wide; maxillary developed, closely adherent 

 to the intermaxillary. Teeth unequal in size, some in the mandible and on the palatine 



* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 18G2, 128. 



