Jordan and Evcrmanii. — Fishes of North America. 2727 



3108. CHAUNAX IVUTTINGII, Garman. 



B.6. D. II, 13; A. 7; V.4; P. 14; C.9. Form resembles that of C/ia»nax 

 pictiis, but is shorter, broader, and possessed of more fin rays. Anteriorly 

 it is broad and depressed, posteriorly compressed. From head to soft 

 dorsal on the nape it is arched very little. Head broader than high, flat- 

 tened or slightly concave on the occiput, nearly vertical on the chin. 

 Snout short, broad, truncate. Eye medium, the length of the scaleless 

 area covering it equals the width of that between the canals on the inter- 

 orbital space, or about f of the spate itself; the distance from the maxil- 

 lary is about the ocular width. The niche in which the first dorsal spine 

 is received is subelliptical and about f as long as the eye ; the tentacle is 

 little more than i as. long as the niche, is broad near the base, tapers 

 rapidly and bears a 2-lobed "bait" with slender fringes. Mouth wide, 

 oblique, maxillary about 3 times as long as the eye, widened and rounded 

 at the outer end; intermaxillaries alone forming upper boi'der of mouth. 

 Teeth small, slender, sharp, in villiform bands. Origin of soft dorsal in 

 the middle of the distance from the rostral tentacle to the base of the 

 caudal fin, fourth ray above the gill opening, anterior rays shorter. Vent 

 below the seventh ray of the second dorsal. Pectorals short, broad, 

 rounded. The canals of the lateral system are in the main like those of 

 C. pictns, hut have stronger curves; they begin to curve outward imme- 

 diately l)ehind the niche, not remaining parallel or converging as in 

 Lowe's species. Scales very fine, sharp and close together. In life this 

 fish was probably red or yellowish with transverse cloudings or blotches 

 of brownish, it is now dingy V)rownish white; one of the blotches lies 

 just behind the eye, another lies below the orbit, and apparently 3 trans- 

 verse bands cross the back through the soft dorsal; orbit blackish; ten- 

 tacular niche black. The coloration of the individual described indicates 

 a habitat within reach of the eftects of sunlight. Florida Keys; the type 

 dredged nearly 8 miles south of Sand Key Light, Florida, in about 120 

 fathoms. (Garman.) This species is evidently not very ditt'erent from 

 Chaunax pictus and may be the same. (Named for C. C. Nutting, professor 

 of zoology in the University of Iowa, director of the Bahama Expedition 

 of 1893.) 



Chaunax nuttingU, Garman, Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa Univ. 1896. 86, pi. in, f. 2, Sand 

 Key Light, Florida. (Coll. C. C. Nutting.) 



Family CCXXIII. CERATIID.^. 



(The Sea Devils.) 



Head and body compressed. Mouth terminal, more or less oblique. 

 Gill openings small, in the lower part of the axils. No pseudobrauchiie. 

 Spinous dorsal represented by 1 or more tentacles. Pectoral members 

 not geniculated, with short pseudobrachia and 3 actinosts. No ventral 

 fins. Fishes of the open seas, usually inhabiting considerable depths; 13 

 genera and 15 species known. All are uniform blackish in color. 



"The bathybial sea devils," writes Giinther, "are degraded forms of 

 Lophius; they descend to the greatest depths of the ocean. Their bones 



