228 



DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



OREOSOMA ATLANTICUM, Cuvieii and Valenciennes. 



Oreosoma athuiticum, CrviKit ami Valenciennes, Ioc. cit., \A. xcix. — GiiNTHBR, loc. cit. 



An Orcosomn, (IcsciilM'd a.s Iniving' 2.5 or 20 large, coiiicjil, bony protnln'raiu'cs, four of 

 which art' on the back. 



Itadial formula: D. v, 29; A. 2(i; v. i, 5. 



Thi.s remarkable form is known only from a single si)ecimen, obtained by Peron, the 

 French uavij^ator, in " the Atlantic Ocean.'' It was probably taken in the surface net. The 

 type is 16 lines in lengtli. A full description is given by Cuvier and Valenciennes, who 

 refer to it as a little tish, whose height is equal to its length; coveiedwith great cones, so 

 rugged and bold that a drawing of it resembles a map of a volcanic country. 

 Its affinities are believed by some ichthyologists to be Berycoid. 



Family CAPROID^E, 



Caprida, Lowe, Fishes of Madeira, xii, 1843. — Gill, Anaugement of tlie Families of Fishes, 1872, 9. (No. 



90.) 

 Cajjroidw, Gill, Ceutury Dictionary, 809. 



Scombroidea with comi>ressed and elevated body, covered with small, ctenoid scales ; 

 upper jaw protractile; vertebrae very numerous; dorsal in two parts; ventrals with 1 

 spine and 5 I'ays; teeth very small. 



KEY TO THE GENERA. 



I. Mouth very protractile ; teeth in jaws, vomer, and palatines Capros 



II. Mouth less protractile; teeth in jaws Antigonia 



Capros aper (after Cuvier.) 

 CAPROS, Lacepede. 



Capros, LAcfipfeDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, p. 590.— Cuvieu & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, p. 29.— 

 Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1862, p. 127. 



Body compressed and elevated; mouth very protractile. Scales rather small, sjiiny. 

 Two contiguous dorsals, the first with 9 spines, the anal with 3. No bony plates along 



