150 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



each eye, 2 on the lower part of the gill cover on 

 each side and about 5 on the lower jaw on each side. 



Color. — Perhaps the most conspicuous feature of 

 the hatchetfishes, as taken from the water, is that 

 their entire bodies are glistening silvery. On some 

 specimens the silver is underlaid with velvet black 

 over the truDk as a whole; on others the black un- 

 der pigment is confined to a marginal band, broader 

 or narrower. The luminescent spots are pale yel- 

 low or white. 



Size. — Maximum length probably not more than 

 3 inches or so. 



Range and occurrence in the Gulf oj Maine. — All 

 the members of this genus are oceanic, and inhabit 

 the mid-depths. Localities listed by Schultz n 

 for this species include the Grand Banks, between 

 Georges and Browns Banks, and the offing of New 

 Jersey and Virginia in the western Atlantic; the 

 Gulf of Mexico; West Indies; off the South African 

 coast; the Indian Ocean; and the Philippines. Our 

 only reason for mentioning the hatchetfish is that 

 one specimen was taken on August 31, 1883, by the 

 Albatross between Georges and Browns Banks 

 where the depth was 144 fathoms. 62 



THE EELS. FAMILIES ANGUILLIDAE, CONGRIDAE, SIMENCHELYIDAE, SYNAPHO- 

 BRANCHIDAE, NEMICHTHYIDAE, AND OPHICHTHYIDAE 



Eels have no ventral fins; either they have no 

 scales or these are so small as to be hardly visible; 

 their fins are soft, without spines ; the gill openings 

 are very small; the vertebrae extend in a straight 

 fine to the tip of the tail ; and a single fin runs over 

 the back, around the tail and forward on the belly 

 with no separation into dorsal, caudal, and ventral 

 portions. All the species of eels known from the 

 Gulf of Maine have pectoral fins, but most of the 

 morays of warmer seas are without pectorals. 

 There are several other fishes of eel-like form in the 

 Gulf of Maine, viz., the hag and the lampreys the 

 rock eel (Pholis); the snake blenny (Lumpenus); 

 the wrymouth (Cryptacanthodes) ; the eel pout 

 (Macrozoarces); and the sand eel (Ammodytes). 

 But the jawless, sucker-like mouth of the first two 

 separates them, at a glance, from the true eels, 

 while there either is a well-marked separation be- 

 tween anal and caudal fins in all the rest; or they 

 have ventral fins (large or small), or the dorsal 

 fin is spiny, not soft. 



Only five true eels are known from the Gulf of 

 Maine: the common eel (p. 151), the slime eel (p. 



157), the conger (p. 154), the snipe eel (p. 159), and 

 the snake eel (p. 159), which fall into five different 

 families according to American usage. A sixth spe- 

 cies, the long-nosed eel (a deep-water form p. 158) 

 is to be expected in the deepest parts of the Gulf 

 though it has not actually been recorded there as 

 yet. The group likewise includes the morays of 

 warm seas and sundry deep-sea forms, some of 

 them exceedingly bizarre in appearance. 



Common, conger, slime, and long nosed eels look 

 much alike in general form, but are separated from 

 one another by the size of the mouth and by the 

 relative lengths of the fins. In the snipe eels the 

 two jaws are prolonged into a very long slender 

 beak, recalling that of a silver gar, the tail is whip- 

 like, the neck noticeably slimmer than the head, 

 and the general form extremely slender, while the 

 snake eel is very slender with a hard pointed tail. 



•i Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus.. vol. 86, 1938, pp. 146-147 and pp. 151-152. 



« Albairos! station 2063, lat. 42° 23' N., long. 66° 23' W. This specimen was 

 recorded by Qoode and Bean (Smithsonian Contrlb. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895, p. 

 127) as A. olfersll. But Schultz (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 86, 1938, p. 151) 

 has found, on reexamination, that It Is an acuhaiui. 



KEY TO GULF OF MAINE EELS 



1. Both jaws are prolonged into a long slender bill Snipe eel, p. 159 



The jaws are not bill-like 2 



2. The anal fin originates well in front of the point of origin of the dorsal fin Long-nosed eel, p. 158 



The anal fin originates well behind the point of origin of the dorsal fin 3 



3. The dorsal fin originates far behind the tips of the pectorals Eel, p. 151 



The dorsal fin originates close behind the tips of the pectorals 4 



4. Mouth very small, its gape not reaching back as far as the eye; body very soft Slime eel, p. 157 



Mouth large, gaping back as far as the middle of the eye; body firm 5 



5. Mouth gaping back only about as far as the middle or rear edge of eye; body moderately stout; tip of tail soft, rounded 



Conger, p. 154 

 Mouth gaping back considerably beyond eye; body very slender, tip of tail hard and pointed Snake eel, p. 159 



