Jordmi and Evcnnann. — Fishes of North America. 



2487 



947. OPHIDION (Artedi) Linnaeus. 



(CusK Eels.) 



Ophidian (Artedi) Linn^us, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 259, 1758 {barbatum). 



Ophidium, Linn^us, Syst. Nat., Ed. Xii, 431, 1766, and of most recent authors; changed 

 spelling. 

 Body moderately elongate, compressed; scales small, usually not imbri- 

 cated, but arranged in short, obliijue series, often placed at right angles 

 with each other, much as in Anynilla. Head naked; teeth villifomi, those 

 of the outer series more or less enlarged, none of them movalde; teeth on 

 vomer and palatines bluntish, some of them enlarged. Vent well behind 

 pectorals. Opercle without distinct spine; sometimes (O. barbatum) a dis- 

 tinct spine at tip of snout. Air bladder oblong-ovate, tapering behind, 

 without foramen. Shore species mostly European. {Ophidium, an ancient 

 name, from 6ii>i6iov, a small snake.) 



a. Gill rakers 4. 



6. Head 4| in length ; depth 7 ; tins not dark edged. beani, 2855. 



bb. Head 6 in length ; inner ray of ventral li in length of outer, which is shorter 



than head; flns durk-ediied. holbbooki, 2856. 



aa. Gill rakers 6 or 7 ; head 5i to 6 in length ; depth 8 to 10; color silvery, unspotted; 



fins not dark-edged: ventrals nearly as long as head. graellsi, 2857. 



2855. OPHIDIOX BEAM, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Head 4| in length ; depth about 7. Head small, the profile not very 

 obtuse; snout 4| in head ; eye 3^, more than twice the narrow interorbital 

 space; month oblique, the maxillary reaching to posterior border of pupil, 

 2 in head; lower jaw slightly included; teeth small, in narrow bands in 

 the jaws, the outer series in upper jaw somewhat enlarged; vomerine and 

 palatine teeth small, subequal; head naked; snout spineless; opercle 

 without spine; no evident pseudobranchiaj ; gill rakers rather long and 

 strong, 4 below angle of arch ; occiput nearly midway between origin of 

 dorsal and front of eye. Air bladder long and slender, occupying nearly 

 the whole length of abdominal cavity, tapering backward. Very light 

 olive, somewhat punctate above, slightly silvery below; tins without trace 

 of dark edging (but being mutilated they may have been dark-edged in 

 life). Gulf of Mexico. Two specimens, 1 of which is in good condition 

 and about 4 inches long, were taken from the stomach of a red snapper, 

 at Pensacola. (Named for Dr. Tarleton Hoffman Bean.) 



Ophidium grcelUi, Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas. 1882, 301 ; Jordan & Giluert, 

 Synopsis, 963, 1883; not of Poey. 



Ophidian beani. Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. F. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 43, Snapper Banks off Pen- 

 sacola (Coll. Jordan ic Stearns. Type, No. 30868, V. S. Nat. Mus.); Jordan, Cat. 

 EishesN. A., 126,1885. 



2856. OPHIDIOIV HOLBBOOKI (Putnam). 



Head 6 in total length. Inner barbel nearly | length of the outer; outer 

 barbel eiiual to distance from center of eye to point of operculum; maxil- 

 lary reaching to posterior border of eye. Length of eye equal to dis- 

 tance from its posterior margin to ridge of preoperculum. Dorsal and anal 



