1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 2 8l 



in head 3.8; snout 5.1; interorbital 8.0; maxillary 1.75; pectoral 1.35. D. about 60; 

 A. about 45, the rays being enveloped in skin and difficult to enumerate; P. 20; 

 gill rakers long and slender, 25 on lower limb of first arch. 



The body is compressed, and narrower than head; eyes covered with skin, 

 making them almost invisible in the alcoholic specimen; snout very short; mouth 

 almost vertical; teeth in the jaws minute, with the exception of several somewhat 

 enlarged ones posteriorly in the lower jaw; vomer with 3 large, fanglike teeth, 

 1 on one side and 2 on the other, precisely as described in the type. 



The color in alcohol is light grayish to brown; dorsal and anal dark brown; 

 other fins pale; mandible dusky; an indication of a dusky horizontal stripe ex- 

 tending behind pectoral, to a little beyond vertical from origin of anal, and 

 another darker band extending from base of ventrals to vent. 



This species apparently has not been reported heretofore from United States 

 waters. Deep water in the West Indies to Florida. S. F. H. 



Family OPHIDIIDAE 



Lepophidium cervinum Goode and Bean 



A single specimen, 216 mm. long, was taken in 60 fathoms, south of Tortugas. 



W. H. L. 



This specimen was not found in the collection. 



Gulf Stream. S. F. H. 



Lepophidium profundorum Gill 



This record is based on a scrap, 60 mm. long, from waste of the tern rookery 

 on Long Key. This dried fragment comprises the head from the tip of the snout 

 to the base of the 14th dorsal ray. Although it has suffered much from digestion, 

 the ventral fins remain, which are no more than a pair of bifid barbels, a third 

 as long as the head, and inserted under the anterior margin of the eye; the 

 anterior dorsal fin supports to the number mentioned articulate, as is indicated 

 by their sharply truncate ends and by segments not dropped; the gill openings 

 are wide; and one of the pectorals turned forward is inserted under the margin 

 of the operculum. These peculiarities sufficiently indicate the family. 



The generic and specific determination is more difficult, but I believe that the 

 above identification is correct. W. H. L. 



The fragment was not found in the collection. 



Gulf Stream, off Florida. S. F. H. 



Lepophidium sp. 



Specimen 25 mm. long, collected by W. L. Schmitt in 10 fathoms near White 

 Shoal, in mud. 



Ventrals each of 2 rays, inserted below middle of eye; dorsal and anal con- 

 fluent with caudal; anal origin approximately under 12th dorsal spine; pectorals 



