Fishes of the Wester 71 North Atlantic 511 



Interspace between: ist and 2nd dorsals 8.5, 9.3; 2nd dorsal and caudal 10.7, 9.6. 

 Distance from origin to origin of: pectoral and pelvics 43.3, 44.1 5 pelvics and 

 caudal 22.9, 21.9. 



Trunk subcylindrical and very slender, its greatest height only about % its length 

 to origin of caudal, the dorsal profile only weakly arched and the ventral profile nearly 

 straight. Body sector to cloaca more than twice as long as tail sector. Caudal peduncle with- 

 out lateral ridges or precaudal pits, and without mid-dorsal ridge. Dermal denticles small, 

 closely spaced, but with skin exposed between them, highly diagnostic in shape, being very 

 low with no distinction between pedicel and blade, transversely truncate apically, quadri- 

 lateral in outline, but occasionally polygonal, with concave margins and rounded corners, 

 the crown with a quadrate depression. 



Head a little less than y^ (22 to 23%) of length to origin of caudal. Snout thick, 

 fleshy, broadly-ovate and very short, its length in front of mouth a little less than Vs of 

 length of head. Eye oval, its horizontal diameter almost V2 as great as length of snout 

 in front of mouth. Spiracles on top of head, slightly oblique, oval, about V2 as long 

 as horizontal diameter of eye and posterior to latter by a distance a little greater than their 

 own length. Gill openings very small, only about Ys to ^/4 as long as horizontal diameter 

 of eye, rather high on the sides, the 5th close in front of origin of pectoral. Nostril close to 

 anterior margin of snout, about Vs as long as horizontal diameter of eye, oblique, its ante- 

 rior margin expanded as a short broadly-triangular lobe rounded at the tip. Mouth very 

 little arched. Lips fleshy, adnate to gum along midsector of upper jaw but elsewhere free 

 and widely distensible, with rounded wing-like expansions at corners of mouth, enclosing 

 an extensive funnel-like cavity that extends inward along upper jaw on either side; upper 

 lip overlaps lower as a thin skin fold rearward from corner of mouth for about V2 of the 

 distance to 2nd gill opening. 



Teeth Jy^is^^^T^TfS^' ^^owers increasing in number with growth ; upper teeth slender, 

 thorn-like, increasingly curved outward toward corners of mouth; lowers much larger, 

 erect, symmetrical, their bases subquadrate with a shoulder on each side at point of transi- 

 tion to the triangular, sharp-pointed cusp, their edges mostly smooth, partly wavy, or even 

 showing faint indication of serrations, the central lower tooth overlapping its neighbor 

 on either side basally, with each subsequent tooth correspondingly overlapping the next 

 outermost; the outermost lower tooth widely expanded basally on the outer side; 3 to 4 

 series functional in upper jaw, one in lower. 



First dorsal very small, its base between Vs and % as long as head, sloping, with 

 broadly rounded apex, its posterior outline very weakly concave, its free rear tip slender 

 and about as long as the base, the rear end of base about over origin of pelvics. Second 

 dorsal similar to ist, but a little longer at base and larger in area, its origin about over 

 rear tips of pelvics. Interspace between ist and 2nd dorsals about as long as between 2nd 



