3 2o DISCOVERY REPORTS 



The body proportions and meristic characters of the three complete specimens dealt with above 

 may be seen in Table 2. For other data the reader is referred to Nybelin (1945) and Abe (1952) and 

 the comprehensive tables given by Hubbs, Mead and Wilimovsky (1953). 



There are no marked differences in body proportions between all the known individuals of Anoto- 

 pterus pharao. Hubbs et al. have remarked that the differences in proportions between A. pharao 

 and A. antarcticus considered by Nybelin (the pelvic-anal distance, the diameter of the eye, and the 

 depth of the caudal peduncle) are likely to be an expression of age rather than of specific distinctness. 

 Comparison of the 100 mm. and 732 mm. individuals in Table 2 shows them to be closely similar, 

 apart from the relative size of the characters mentioned above. There can be little doubt that these 

 characters are correlated with age. But there seems to be some differentiation within the species in 

 respect of the number of functional palatine teeth and perhaps in the number of vertebrae. (See 

 Table 3.) 



Table 2. Body proportions (expressed in hundredths of the standard length) and meristic features of 



three individuals of Anotopterus pharao 



In general the table indicates that fishes from the North Atlantic and North Pacific tend to have 

 fewer (4-10) palatine teeth than those (11-14) m South Atlantic and Antarctic waters, and although 

 there are certain anomalies, the data also suggest that in fishes from northern waters there is a tendency 

 for the number of palatine teeth to increase with age. 



The number of vertebrae [(79 ±1/2 to 81) in three northern fishes and 83 in two southern fishes] 

 perhaps lends some support to the suggestion that within this wide-ranging species there is a northern 

 and a southern form. However, Maul's (1952) record from Madeira of a 47-5 mm. fish with 14 palatine 

 teeth has to be considered. All that can be done at present is to draw attention to the possibility con- 

 sidered by Hubbs et al. (1953) that Anotopterus, like certain ceratoid angler fishes, '. . .occurs chiefly 



