NO. 4 MYERS AND WADE : NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF EELS 75 



Ophichthyidae 



Genus GAEGULA Vahl 



Caecula Vahl, 1794, Skriv. Naturh. Selsk,, Kjobenhavn, vol. 3, p. 149 

 (type by monotypy C. apterygia Vahl). 



Sphagebranchiis Bloch, 1795, Naturgeschichte ausland. Fische, vol. 9, p. 

 88 (type by monotypy S. rostratus Bloch). 



Verma Jordan and Evermann, 1896, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., no. 47, pt. 1, 

 p. 374 (type by original designation Sphagebranchus kejidalli Gil- 

 bert). 



Vertical fins absent or feebly developed. No pectoral fins. Posterior 

 nostrils in the upper lip and directed downward. Gill openings small, 

 close together, longitudinal, oblique, or vertical. Gill membrane not ap- 

 parently duplicating the gill opening anteriorly by a false fold. Snout pro- 

 jecting far beyond the lower jaw. Teeth small and mostly uniserial. 



Key to Eastern Tropical Pacific Species 



la. Eye 5 in snout; snout 6.6 in head ; cleft of mouth 3.8 in head ; width 

 of isthmus equal to eye; posterior nostrils under edge of upper lip, 

 elongate and with a raised rim; dorsally and laterally snout is 

 sharply pointed (Colombia, off Cocos Island, Costa Rica, and north 

 to Cape San Lucas). . . . C. j^/^cAo/)^ (Jordan and Gilbert). 



lb. Eye 3.4 in snout; snout 4.76 in head; cleft of mouth 4.26 in head; 

 width of isthmus equals one half of eye ; posterior nostrils a slightly 

 rounded pore above edge of upper lip with no raised rim present; 

 dorsally the snout is very blunt and rounded, not at all sharp (Ga- 

 lapagos Islands) C. equatorialis, new species. 



Gaecula equatorialis, new species 

 Plate 11 



Holotype. — AHF no. 12. 



Type locality. — Station 810-38, north of Barrington Island, Galapa- 

 gos, 0° 43' S., 90° 01' W., dredged in 73 fms., on a sand bottom, Janu- 

 ary 26, 1938. 



