146 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



body is clothed with large but very thin scales. 

 There are several longitudinal rows of small 

 luminescent spots on the ventral surface, running 

 from throat to tail; several more such spots on 

 each side of the head ; and many tiny unpigmented 

 dots scattered over the trunk. 3 ' 



Color. — Greenish above, the sides with metallic 

 gloss; blackish below. 



Size. — Up to about one foot long. 



Habits. — Nothing is known of its habits except 

 that it is an inhabitant of the mid-depths of 

 the Atlantic Basin and that it probably does not 

 rise closer to the surface than 150 or 200 fathoms 



except, perhaps, during its larval stages. Its 

 teeth suggest a rapacious habit but there is no 

 actual record of its diet. 



Occurrence in the Gulj of Maine. — The only 

 definite Gulf of Maine records are of one specimen 

 found in the stomach of a cod caught on Georges 

 Bank in 1874, and of a second found in the 

 stomach of a swordfish that was harpooned in 

 the gully between Browns and Georges Banks in 

 1931. 40 But the viperfish may be expected on 

 the offshore banks as a stray at any time, for 

 several have been taken off the continental slope 

 abreast of southern New England " in deep water. 



THE STOMIATIDS. FAMILIES GONOSTOMIDAE AND STOMIATIDAE 



The stomiatids include many soft-rayed fishes 

 of the mid-depths, of most diverse appearance, all 

 of them with well developed luminescent organs, 

 with large eyes, large mouths, and teeth in both 

 jaws. Some have and others lack the adipose 

 fin, but the ventrals are inserted more than 

 one- third of the way back on the abdomen in all 

 of them. They differ from the herrings and 

 salmons in the structure of the skull. Four 

 species have been taken in our Gulf, as strays 

 from offshore. 



Cyclothone Cyclothone signata Garman 1899 



Garman, Mem. Mus. Compar. Zoology, vol. 24. 1899, 

 p. 246, pi. J, fig. 3. 



Description. — The general aspect of cyclothone 

 is extremely characteristic, the somewhat com- 

 pressed body being deepest at the gill opening 

 with the upper surface of the head concave in 

 profile, the mouth so large that it gapes back of 

 the eye, the lower jaw projecting, the eye very 

 small, and the gill openings very long. The 

 dorsal fin stands over the anal (the latter is much 



■ Brauer, Tlefsee-Flsche Wlssensch. Ergeb. Deutschen Tlefsee-Exped., 

 (1898-1899) 1906, vol. 16, Pt. I, p. 40. 



the longer of the two), both originating close 

 behind the middle of the body. The caudal 

 fin is deeply forked and there is no adipose fin. 



The luminescent spots are arranged as follows: 

 One on the head; 1 close below the eye and in 

 front of it; 2 on each gill cover; 9 or 10 between 

 the branchiostegal rays; 2 longitudinal rows 

 along each side of the body, a lower row of 13 

 from throat to ventral fins, 4 from ventrals to 

 anal fin, and 13 from anal to caudal, and an upper 

 row of 7 reaching about as far back as the ventrals. 



Color. — Cyclothone signata is colorless or pale 

 gray, except that the blackish, dark silvery lining 

 of the abdominal cavity shows through, that the 

 luminous organs are black rimmed and silver cen- 

 tered, and that there are the following black 

 markings: a Y-shaped mark on the forehead; a 

 series of spots or short transverse stripes on the 

 flank; spots between the bases of the dorsal and 

 anal fin rays; one or two transverse streaks across 

 the bases of the caudal fin rays; and a number of 



» Reported to us by Walter H. Rich. 



« Qoode and Bean (Smithsonian Contrlb. Knowl., 1895, p. 97) Ust these 

 captures. 



Figure 64. — Cyclothone (Cyclothone aignata) . After Brauer. 



