EELS OF THE GENUS CONGER — KANAZAWA 



259 



mandibular pores 9; vertebrae 85 to 96 caudal and 50 to 51 precaudal; 

 in one specimen dorsal rays 273; anal rays 187; compressed teeth in 

 upper jaw 27 to 65, in lower jaw 28 to 59; two rows of teeth in jaws, 

 inner row conical; premaxillary tooth -patch wider than long; upper 

 edge of gill opening near midpoint of pectoral fin base; rictus of jaw 

 below middle of eye. Additional counts and proportional measure- 

 ments are recorded in tables 1-3, 5, 6, and in figure 2. 



Distribution: On eastern Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to 

 Florida, and Gulf of Mexico to Pascagoula, Miss. Bigelow and 

 Schroeder (1953, p. 156) record adults from North Truro, Cape Cod, 

 and near Provincetown in Cape Cod Bay, Mass. The Oregon 

 collected four specimens just south of Pascagoula, Miss., at a depth of 

 260 fathoms in an 80-foot balloon trawl. 



Remarks: There is a clinal difference in the length of head and 

 snout from north to south. The forms from New England have a 

 shorter head and snout than those of Carolinas and Florida; those 

 from the Gulf of Mexico have the longest. 



This species is related to C. wilsoni from Australia, but differs 

 from it by having the origin of dorsal fin more anterior in position 

 and a fewer number of compressed teeth in the upper jaw (fig. 2). 



