MEMOIRS 



OF THE 



CAENEGIE MUSEUM. 



VOL. VI. NO. 2. 



THE LANTERN-FISHES OF JAPAN. 



By Charles H. Gilbert, 

 Professor of Zoology, Stanford University. 



(Plates XI-XIV.) 



As the eastern coasts of Japan are swept by the Kurosiwo, the northern 

 branch of the equatorial current, it should be expected that the Mydophidce, 

 or Lantern-fishes, in common with other strictly pelagic organisms, would be 

 present in large numbers. But up to the present only three species^ have been 

 reported from this region, and these based on the well-known collections made 

 by Mr. Alan Owston of Yokohama in Sagami Bay. Further rich collections by 

 Mr. Owston have been recently secured for the Carnegie Museum by Dr. 

 David Starr Jordan, and the Myctophids of this collection have been very 

 kindly placed in the hands of the writer for study. There also have been 

 available in this connection the extensive collections of Lantern-fishes made by 

 the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries Steamer "Albatross" in Japanese waters in 1906. 

 An account of the latter is here included by permission of the Commissioner of 

 Fisheries. 



Thirty species are here recorded, and, as these do not include Macrostoma 

 japonicum of the previous list, the total now known from the waters of Japan 

 is thirty-one. Twelve of these belong to the genera Dasyscopelus, Mydophum, 

 and Centrobranchus, and constitute a group, which are usually light in color, 



* Neoscopeliis dlcocki, Diaphus watasei, Macrostoma quercinum japonicum. 



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