THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 129 



Family MURAENIDAE 6; Morays 



Body moderately robust/ scaleless; skin thick, leathery, extending 

 on the fins; head conic; mouth large; tongue wanting; teeth strong, 

 sharp or blunt; gill opening small, lateral, sometimes roundish; dorsal 

 and anal fins confluent around the tail; pectoral fins wanting. 



Three genera from Peru are recognized herein, 



Steindachner (1869c, pp. 27, 28) described Leptocephalus multi- 

 maculatus and L. peruanus from the Peruvian coast. The descrip- 

 tions are based on larvae, "Leptocephaliden," and accordingly were 

 placed in the genus Leptocephalus, as was customary at that time. 

 It is quite impossible to determine whether the leptocephali, known 

 to me only from the original descriptions, are the young of any species 

 of which the adults have been described, or to which family they 

 belong. Descriptions condensed from the original ones follow: 



1. Leptocephalus multimaculatus . — Related to L. longirostris Kaup 

 in the shape of the body and the dentition in the jaws, but the body 

 is decidedly slenderer, its greatest depth being 3K lines at a total 

 length of "3" 1" '"(presumably meaning SYn inches); head about 

 18K times in total length; snout half length of lower jaw, the latter 

 half as long as head; gape oblique, extending to beyond middle of the 

 fairly large eye; both jaws pointed, the lower one slightly the longer, 

 very small, soft and transparent, anteriorly with eight or nine teeth 

 visible with the naked eye, directed forward, followed by six to eight 

 minute teeth posteriorly; upper jaw with seven similarly large teeth, 

 directed forward and sLx to eight minute teeth under the eye; pectorals 

 wanting; only on the posterior part of the back and ventral margins 

 are present a trace of rays. Behind the head lie nine blackish flecks, 

 along the ventral margin; then follow six on the midline of the trunk. 

 Total length of one example is 3" 1" '; greatest height of head Sji" ' \ 

 length of head 2" '; length of snout Yi" ' ; length of mandible \" ' \ 

 diameter of eye %" ' (the accents apply to inches and lines, the total 

 length of the specimen being 3K2 inches). 



2. Leptocephalus peruanus. — The body is very deep, ribbon-shaped, 

 deepest at midlength, decreasing evenly in both directions, both ends 

 of body pointed, the greatest depth being about a fourth of the total 

 length; head and teeth about as in L. multimaculatus; head one- 

 twelfth of the total length. A dark fleck is present on the ventral 

 margin shortly behind midbody length. We have two examples of 

 this pretty species which are I" f)]'i" ' long; head \)^" ' long; head 

 \)t' ' long; depth 4}^" ', eye ]{" ' (the accents apply to inches and 



5 5 



Imes, the total length of the specimens being \^ inches). 



' This family name is used with knowledge of Fowler's findings (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 70, 

 pt. 1, p. 261, 1936), the discussion oflered by Myers and Wade (Allan Hancock Pacific Expeditions, vol. 9, 

 No. 4, p. 87, 1941), and that by Schultz (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 180, p. 11, 1943). 



' Proportions of depth of body given in the descriptions are not accurate, as some specimens were pressed 

 out of shape in the process of preserving and others were more or less shriveled. 



