Jordan and Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 2609 



cc. Lateral line without arch in front. 



g. Teeth in upper jaw biserial, in the lower iiniserial, the front teeth of 



upper jaw enlarged ; vertebra 35 or 36 ; gill rakers short ; interor- 



bital space broad in the male. Syacium, 1048. 



gg. Teeth in each jaw uniserial; interorbital space very narrow, the 



ridges coalescing between the eyes. 



h. Mouth not very small, the maxillarymore than \ length of head. 



i. Gill rakera very short and thick, tnbercle-like. 



J. Scales cycloid, small, and firm. Cyclopsetta, 1049. 



j). Scales small, iirm, ctenoid. Azevia, 1050. 



ii. Gill rakers slender, of moderate length ; scales thin, decid- 

 uous, ciliated ; vertebrje 34 to 40. Cithartchthys, 1051. 

 hh. Mouth very small, the teeth subequal, the maxillary less than 

 \ length of head; scales thin; teeth uniserial; vertebras 

 9 + 25 = 34. Eteopus, 1052. 



aa. Pectoral fin of blind side wanting; eyes very close together ; caudal fin subsessile ; 

 teeth small, uniserial; mouth moderate; lateral line of eyed side arched, that 

 of right side nearly straight; dorsal fin beginning on snout, it.s anterior rays 

 not exserted, its rays all .simple and very numerous ; gill rakers few and feeble ; 

 scales small ; body thin, very elongate ; vertebra^ (in M. tessilicmida) 43 ; (deep- 

 sea flounders). MONOLENE, 1053. 



1013. ATHERESTHES, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Atherestheg, Jordan & Gilbeet, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 51 (ttomias). 



Eyes and color on the right side. Body very long and slender, closely 

 compressed, tapering into a long and slender caudal peduncle; head 

 elongate, narrow; mouth extremely large, oblique; the long and narrow 

 maxillary extending beyond the eye; each jaw with 2 irregular series of 

 sharp, unequal, arrow-shaped teeth, some of them long and wide set, and 

 others short and close set, sharp ; the long teeth freely depressible. Gill 

 rakers numerous, long, slender, and stiff, strongly dentate within. Scales 

 rather large, thin and readily deciduous, slightly ciliated, those on the 

 blind side similar, smooth; lateral line without arch. Fins low and 

 fragile; dorsal commencing over the eye, its anterior rays low, the pos- 

 terior rays somewhat forked ; no anal spine ; pectorals and vontrals small, 

 both of the latter lateral ; caudal lunate. The single species which con- 

 stitutes this genus is one of the most remarkable of the flounders. Of all 

 the group, it approaches in form and general characters most nearly to the 

 Gadoid fishes, from ancestors of which we may presume the flounders to 

 be descended, although Dr. Gill has suggested the possibility of their 

 descent from Trachyjiteroid fishes. {aOyp, the l>card or spike of an ear 

 of corn; edOioo, to eat; from the arrow-shaped teeth.) 



2975. ATHERESTHES STOMIAS (Jordan & Gilbert). 

 (The AKHOw-TOOTHEn Halibut.) 



Head about 33 in length; depth 3^; eye large, 4f in head. D. 103; A. 

 86; scales 135; vertebra' 12 -[-37 ^49. Head long, the snout protruding, 

 somewhat timncate at tip; mouth excessively large ; the maxillary more 

 than i length of head, and reaching behind eye ; preniaxillary in front 

 above the level of the lower eye ; teeth in upper jaw anteriorly in a single 



