Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 209 



Distance from origin to origin of: pectoral and pelvics 24.8, 22.55 pelvics and anal 

 19.4, 19.8. 



Trunk slender, its breadth at origin of pectorals only about Vs, its height Vio? of 

 total length, tapering rearward. Body sector to cloaca about as long as tail sector. Caudal 

 peduncle nearly as broad as deep, oval in cross-section. Dermal denticles narrow, lanceo- 

 late, with scute tips, their blades only slightly raised, 3-5 ridged, the axial ridge much the 

 strongest, their posterior margins entire on some denticles but notched between the ridges 

 on others. 



Head flattened above. Snout wedge-shaped, but with blunt tip, its length in front 

 of mouth about V4 of length of head. Eye moderately narrow, oval, with horizontal diam- 

 eter twice or more the vertical, Its horizontal diameter about % as long as snout in front 

 of mouth, its anterior edge a little posterior to front of mouth, the longitudinal fold below 

 eye but weakly indicated. Spiracle an oblique slit, about Y'j as long as horizontal diameter 

 of eye, situated close behind, and a little below, latter. First gill opening the longest, about 

 V2 to % as long as horizontal diameter of eye, the 5th shortest, only about V2 as long as ist, 

 the 4th and 5th over anterior part of pectoral. Nostrils entirely distinct from mouth, nearly 

 transverse, their anterior margins expanded as subtriangular flaps, with strong transverse 

 median crests (no barbel), separated from mouth at nearest point by a distance about Vi 

 as great as horizontal diameter of eye, and separated one from the other in the midline 

 by a distance about V2 as great as from the median angle of the nostril to the mouth. Mouth 

 ovate, about V2 as long as wide; a strongly marked labial furrow at corner of lower jaw 

 extending inward about Vs the distance to the symphysis; no furrow on upper jaw but 

 upper lip somewhat expanded at corner of mouth, thus closing over the lower. 



Teeth about |^=j=|i; alike in the 2 jaws, the triangular median cusp flanked near its 

 base on either side by i (rarely 2) smaller cusps, the median cusp larger, relative to the 

 laterals, in larger than in smaller specimens; lower jaw, but not upper, with a small 

 median tooth ; usually 3 or 4 rows functional. 



First dorsal brush-shaped, its origin closer to tip of caudal than to tip of snout by a 

 distance about equal to length of latter in front of mouth, posterior to rear end of bases of 

 pelvics by a distance about % as long as horizontal diameter of eye, the rear end of its 

 base a little posterior to tips of pelvics; its anterior margin nearly straight, its posterior 

 margin slightly convex, its apex rounded, its free lower margin about as long as its base. 

 Second dorsal about V2 as large in area as i st, its rear margin weakly concave, its free rear 

 corner somewhat more slender than ist, its origin over rear part of base of anal. Caudal 

 only about V5 of total length, with well marked subterminal notch, its terminal sector ^3 

 to V2 the total length of the fin, brush-shaped, its tip either squarely truncate (Fig. 33) 

 or indented in the midline (type specimen), its lower anterior corner subangular and much 

 more obtuse than a right angle. Anal subtriangular, with nearly straight edges, broadly 

 rounded apex, and moderately acute rear corner, its base about Vs to V^ longer than that 

 of 2nd dorsal, its origin about midway between perpendiculars at rear end of base of ist 



