Jordan and Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 1287 



535. XENICHTHYS, Gill. " 



Xenichthys, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Soi. Phila. 1863, 82 (xanti). 



Body elongate, subfusiform, compressed; bead conic, little compressed; 

 eyes large, anterior; preorbital narrow, oblique; preopercle serrate; 

 moiitb small, very oblique; cbiu mucb projecting, a pore on each side of 

 the symphysis; teeth very small, recurved, in narrow bands in each jaw; 

 vomer with a rhomboid patch of very minute teeth; palatines and tongue 

 nearly or quite toothless; branchiostegals 7. Scales small, firm, ctenoid. 

 Dorsal fins nearly separate, the spines, 10 in number, slender but rigid, 

 received in a groove; anal with 3 graduated spines; soft dorsal and anal 

 long, low, each with about 18 soft rays, longer than the spinous dorsal ; 

 caudal emarginate; axillary scale present. Two species. Eastern Pacific. 

 {^€vos, strange; z;<;Ov?, fish.) 



a. Pectoral fin falcate, about as long as head and reaching to front of anal fln ; color 



nearly plain silvery. AGAssizn, 1659. 



aa. Pectoral fin short, li in head, and not reaching nearly to vent; color silvery with 



faint longitudinal streaks. xanti, 1660. 



1659. XEMCHTHYS AGASSIZII, Steindachner. 



Head 3; depth 3. D. XI-I, 17 or 18; A. Ill, 17; scales 56. Pectoral fin 

 falcate, about as long as the head, and reaching to front of anal fin; eye 

 very large, 2^ in head; snout broad and flat; mouth oblique, the maxil- 

 lary 2^ in head; teeth quite small, those on vomer scarcely developed; 

 none on palatines or tongue; lower jaw much projecting; preopercle very 

 finely serrulate. Gill rakers slender and rather long, X + 17; nostrils 

 small, oblong, the longest f pupil ; body compressed, the back somewhat 

 elevated; longest dorsal spine not i length of head; soft dorsal and 

 anal low, covered with small scales; caudal forked; anal spines short, 

 graduated, the second stouter; first soft ray of anal less than j^ head. 

 Color steel-blue above, silvery below. Galapagos Islands; not common; 

 the above description from one of the original types. (Named for Louis 

 Agassiz.) 



Xenichthyt agassizii, Steindachner, Ichth. Beitrage, in, 6, 1875, Galapagos Islands; 

 Jordan & Fesler, I. c, 461. 



16(50. XENKHTHYS XAXTI, Gill. 



Head 3 ; depth 3. D. XI-I, 18 ; A. Ill, 17 ; scales 10-54-14. Form ellipti- 

 cal, the body comparatively deep, compressed, the back somewhat ele- 

 vated ; profile nearly straight from snout to base of dorsal ; head subconic, 

 flattish above, not strongly compressed; the temporal region prominent; 

 post-temporal, interorbital, and suborbital regions somewhat cavernous, 

 yielding to the touch; nuchal region slightly carinate; mouth terminal, 

 very oblique, the lower jaw strongly projecting, its tip entering the upper 

 profile of head; preorbital rather narrow, its least width less than | 

 the diameter of the pupil. Teeth small and feeble, in narrow bands in 

 both jaws, a few on vomer, none on palatines or tongue. Nostrils similar, 



