Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 183 



overlapping," large (about 0.4 X 0.5 mm. in a specimen 650 mm. long), but varying 

 much in size, scale-like, their blades ovate, sharp-pointed, or blunted, usually with 3 

 ridges, the median longest, reaching about halfway to the apexj pedicels high and slender 

 on broad stellate bases. 



Head flattened above (more so in males than in females), widest opposite ist gill 

 opening in males but opposite 5th gill opening in females. Snout broadly rounded and 

 very short, its length in front of mouth only about Vs to '/() as great as length of head to 

 origin of pectoral. Eye oval, about twice as broad as high, its horizontal diameter only 

 about i/'g as great as distance from eye to ist gill slit. Orbital folds as described above 

 for the genus (p. 180). Spiracle a minute slit or pore on a level with lower edge of eye 

 and behind the latter by a distance about i to i ^2 times the horizontal diameter of eye. 

 Gill openings high on sides and nearly straight, the 3rd over origin of pectoral, the ist to 

 4th widely spaced, but 4th and 5th very close together, the margin of the former some- 

 times overlapping and thus concealing the latter in large specimens, the 5th about 1.7 times 

 as long as the ist and about 3 times as long as the diameter of eye. Nostril nearly longi- 

 tudinal, its inner (posterior) end connected with front of mouth by a deep, open groove, its 

 anterior edge outwardly with a tapering, fleshy barbel reaching backward to mouth and 

 also expanded posteriorly as a subrectangular flap that is continuous across front of mouth 

 with that of the opposite nostril, and also with the upper lip. Mouth close to tip of snout, 

 notably small, its breadth a little less than ^3 as great as length of head, its corners with 

 very deep furrows which form the outline of thick fleshy labial folds on both jaws, the 

 upper extending inward to edge of nostril and the lower a little further. 



Teeth ||-~|^ ; similar in the 2 jaws, with high triangular central cusp flanked on either 

 side by I to 3 smaller cusps (their number increasing with age of tooth) except when worn 

 away} cusps progressively smaller and curving outwardly more toward angles of jaw} 

 7 to 9 series functional in upper jaw and 8 to 1 2 series in lower, in medium-sized specimens. 



Fins large, with rounded corners. Origin of ist dorsal over or a little behind origin 

 of pelvics, its vertical height about % as great as length of pectoral, its anterior margin 

 slightly convex, its rear margin nearly straight, its free rear tip ^o to % as long as its base 

 and reaching rearward considerably past tips of pelvics. Second dorsal similar to ist in 

 shape, and % to $5 as large in linear dimensions, its origin a little anterior to origin of 

 anal, the distance from its rear tip to origin of caudal about Y^, to % as long as its base. 

 Caudal a little less than Yz of total length, only a little narrower toward tip than toward 

 base, its axis very little raised, its tip rounded and slightly bilobed in some specimens but 

 scarcely so in others, its lower anterior and lower posterior margins nearly straight, except 

 for the deep subterminal notch, its lower anterior corner obtuse and not expanded as a lobe. 

 Anal less than half as large in area as 2nd dorsal, although nearly as long as at base, its 

 rear margin broadly rounded and slightly overlapping the caudal, its origin under or a 

 little posterior to midpoint of base of 2nd dorsal. Pelvics about % as large in area as ist 



6. Evidently there is considerable variation in this respect, for Radcliffe (Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., j.;, 1916: 249) 

 shows them as widely spaced. 



