Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 54.3 



Frontal tenaculum of males armed below with many sharp thorns pointing toward 

 base.'^ Prepelvic tenacula about 70 "/o as long as eye and about 1.3 times as long as 

 broad; the terminal outline of the posterior cartilage deeply concave, but not the skin 

 covering it; outer margin of blade with 4-5 stout hooks, progressively smaller from 

 front to rear. Apertures of prepelvic pouches about half as long as eye, diverging rear- 

 ward at an angle of about 45° with longitudinal axis of trunk. 



Claspers, on specimen seen, between ^/4 and ^/j as long as anterior margin of pelvic 

 fins, divided between ^3 and ^/4 the distance outward from their bases; the accessory 

 third branch rod-like with narrow lateral expansions of skin, its tip sometimes some- 

 what curved but not dilated; the two other branches more fleshy with broader lateral 

 wings and bluntly truncate tips; the apposed surfaces of the two broader branches rough 

 with many small thorns directed toward the base, much as in Chimaera, and likewise 

 their outer faces here or there; the narrower third branch smooth basally, but its termi- 

 nal half rough outwardly as well as inwardly. Sperm channel an open groove basally 

 along proximal part of clasper but continued rearward as a closed canal to point at which 

 the terminal branches of clasper separate. 



Color. Trunk uniformly lead color, tan brown, or dark sepia below as well as 

 above; chin and throat considerably paler and snout grayish; second dorsal fin either 

 whitish or leaden along margin; posterior margin of first dorsal, posterior and inner 

 margins of pelvics and posterior margin of pectorals narrowly edged with dark sepia 

 or blackish; fins otherwise a little paler than general shade of sides; dental plates pale 

 grayish but the tritors greenish white; tongue purple.** 



Relationship to Extralimital Species. It has been suggested ^^ that H. affinis may 

 prove identical with H. africanus (Gilchrist) 1922 from the Natal Coast of South Africa. 

 But it appears from the published account and illustration of africanus*^ that its dorsal 

 spine is much longer relatively than that of affinis., its first dorsal fin correspondingly 

 higher and its pectoral considerably longer. H. eidolon (Jordan and Hubbs) 1925 from 

 Japan closely resembles affinis. But available information*' suggests that it is separable 

 from the latter by the characters stated in the Key (p. 535). 



Size. The largest specimen reported (a female) was about 49 inches long and 

 weighed 17^/2 pounds dressed.** 



Habits. Evidently this chimaeroid is confined to moderately deep water, all speci- 

 mens for which depth of capture was recorded having been brought up from between 

 about 160 and 1,290 fathoms. Nothing more is known of its habits. 



Range. Both sides of North Atlantic in moderately deep water; in the east, off 

 the coast of Portugal; in the west, continental slope northward and eastward from the 



83. The only male we have seen has lost the tenaculum. 



84. After many years in alcohol. 



85. By Norman, 'Discovery' Rep., 12, 1935: 47. 



86. Gilchrist, Fish. Mar. biol. Surv. S. Afr., Rep. 2, Spec. Rep. 3 (1921), 1922: 31, pi. 8. 



87. Jordan and Hubbs, Mem. Carneg. Mus., 10, 1925: 117, pi. 5, fig. i. 



88. Taken about 85 miles off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, from between 400 and 500 fathoms, October 15, 1930; see 

 Firth, Bull. Boston Soc. nat. Hist., 61, 1931: 9. 



