476 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



monsters of the sea are always represented by those who have had the good fortuue of 

 uieetiug with them as remarkably aetive, it is not likely that harndess ril)bon fishes, which 

 are either dying or dead, have been the objects described as 'sea serpents.'" 



KEY TO THE FAMILIES. 



I. Ventrals well ileveloiieil <ir abseut TRACHYi'TK.Rin.E 



II. Veutrals reilmed to a single loiiij tilaiuiiit Regai.ecid.e 



Family TRACHYPTERID^E. 



Trachiiplerid(r, Swainson. Nat. Hist. Fish., 1839, 47. — Gii.L. .\niericau Naturalist, xxiv, 1890, 482. 



Ta'niosomes with the body moderately elongated and very compressed, the head short, 

 the opercnlar apparatus abbreviated (the operculum extended downwards, the suboper- 

 culuui below it, and the interoperculum contractetl backwards and bounded behind by the 

 operculum and suboperculuiu), ventrals pauciradiatc in young, atrophied or lost in adult, 

 the cranium with a myodome and dichost, the supraoccipital continued behind into a |)roiui- 

 nence, the epiotics confined to the sides and back of the cranium, and without ribs. 



The ril)bon-fishes are well known in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and 

 have even been found as far west as Madeira. Truchypttriis has never been found in the 

 Western Atlantic. Some few representatives have been found on the west coast of South 

 America, and one or two examples have been taken in New Zealand. They aie generally 

 admitted to be true deep-sea fishes, which live at very great depth.s, and are only found 

 when floating dead on the surface or washed ashore by the waves. Almost nothing is known 

 of their habits except through Nilsson's observations in the far noith. Tiiis naturalist, as 

 well as Oliii'sen, appears to have iuid the opiKirtunity of observing them in life. They say 

 that they approach the shore at flood tide on sandy .shelving bottoms, and are often left by 

 the retreating waves. Nilsson's opinion is that their habits resemble thos<^ of the "flat- 

 fishes,"' and that they move with one side turned ol)li(iuely upward, the other toward the 

 ground; and he says that they have been seen on the bottom in 2 or 3 fathoms of water, 

 where the flshermen hook them up with the implements employed t^) raise dead seals, and 

 that they are slow swimmers. This is not necessarily the case, however, for the removal 

 of pressure and the rough treatment by which they were probably washed upon the shore 

 would be demoralizing, to say the least. Trichiiirns Icpfurns, a fish very similar in form, 

 is a very strong, swift swimmer. 



Whether or not the habits of Trachyptenix aicticus, on whi(;h thes»^ obscu'vations were 

 made, are a safe guide in regard to the other forms is a matter of .some doubt, but it is 

 certain that they live far from the surface, excei)t near the Arctic Circle, and that they 

 only come ashore accidentally. They have never been taken by the deep-sea dredge or 

 trawl-net, and indeed perfect .specimens are very rare, the bodies being very soft and bi'it- 

 tle, the bones and fin rays exceedingly fragile. 



A considerable number of species have been described, but these are, in most instances, 

 based upon one or two sjjecimens. It is probable that future studies may be as fruitful as 

 that of Emery, who, by means of a series of 23 specimens, succeeded in uniting at least 

 three of the Mediterranean .species, which for half a century or more had been regarded as 

 distinct. As has been lemarked, not a single individual of Tnn-hiiiitrnis iias ever been 

 found in the Western Atlantic, although the common sjjecies (jf the Eastern Atlantic, T. 

 atlanticiift, is not unusually taken, one or more si)eciiin'ns, accoiding to (^liinther, being 

 secured along tlu! coast of Northern Europe after almost every severe gale. We havjb 

 deemed it desirable to include in this paper partial diagnoses and refereiu'es to the litera- 

 ture concerning each of the sj)ecies at present recognized in the Atlantic Basin, in oider 

 that American naturalists may have at hand a convenient nu-ans of identifying material 

 which is almost certain, sooner or later, to fall into their hands. 



We desire to quote the recommendation of Dr. Giinther, and to strongly urge upon 

 anyone who may be so fortunate as to secure one of these fishes that no attempt should 



