300 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND "WILDLIFE SERVICE 



ffiiS 



Figure 157. — Grammicolepid (Xenolepidichthys americanus), Georges Bank. Drawing by H. B. Bigelow. 



after the original illustration by Firth and Nichols. 



Tail fin 



armed with about 11 or 12 conspicuous, horizon- 

 tally flattened spines, pointing rearward. 



Size. — The only specimen yet seen is about 4 

 inches (100 mm.) long, to the base of its tail fin. 



We need only add, further, of our species, that 

 the forward division of the dorsal fin consists of 5 

 spines, the forward edge of the first saw-edged, and 

 all of them filamentous toward the tip; that the 

 second dorsal fin, of 33 soft rays (separated from 

 the first by a considerable gap), is about as high 

 as two-thirds the diameter of the eye; is of about 

 equal height from end to end, and reaches back 

 to the caudal peduncle; that the tail fin is deeply 

 forked, its tips pointed, and its upper lobe longer 

 than the lower (unless this is the result of mutila- 

 tion); that the soft-rayed anal fin, corresponding 

 to the second (soft) dorsal fin, is preceded, after a 

 considerable gap, first by a short, smooth spine, 

 then by another very long spine, saw-toothed 

 along both its front margin and its rear margin for 



most of its length, but filamentous toward its tip ; 

 and that the ventral fins, of 1 stout, saw-edged 

 spine followed by 6 soft rays, stand a little in 

 advance of the brush-shaped pectorals. 



Color. — After preservation in alcohol, the 

 color is "pale, with a series of dark marks on the 

 midline of the back, and about 10 narrow dark 

 bands extending downward from these to the 

 level of the top of the eye . . . the flattened 

 spines, scattered over the body are blackish. 

 Base of anal with a series of dusky blotches, and 

 posterior part of caudal dusky". 41 



Range and occurrence in the Chilj oj Maine. — So 

 far known only from Georges Bank, where the 

 only specimen yet seen was picked up, in a bucket, 

 from the Sword Fisherman America. A closely 

 related species, X. dalgleishi Gilchrist 1922, is 

 known from the Caribbean, South Africa, and 

 the Philippines. 



« Quoted from the original account by Nichols and Firth. 



