134 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 PRIODONOPmS EQUATOSIALIS, new species 



Morena; Anguila 

 Figure 31 



Body compressed, thickness at vent not much greater than half 

 depth at same place; tail strongly compressed, tapering to a rather 

 narrow point; length anterior to vent 2.25, 2.1 in total length; head 

 moderately compressed, its length anterior to gill opening 7.4, 6.9 in 

 total length, 3.3, 3.25 in length anterior to vent; depth 6.25, 5.7 in 

 length anterior to vent, 1.9, 1.75 in head; snout robust, almost square 

 in cross section, 6.25, 6.3 in head; eye moderately large, lateral, 9.8, 

 11.0 in head; 1.6, 1.8 in snout, mouth large horizontal, terminal, the 

 gape extending far beyond eye, 2.8, 2.8 in head; lips plicate on inner 

 side; snout and mandible with prominent pores; teeth in each jaw in 

 a single series (or the lower jaw with a few to several depressible teeth 

 in an inner series on one or both sides), moderately large anteriorly, 

 becoming quite small posteriorly, compressed, with definite serrations 

 on both margins, quite sharklike, none on vomer or palatines; ante- 

 rior nostril with a rather prominent tube, situated nearer dorsal out- 

 line of snout than margin of lip, the posterior one large, oval, sur- 

 rounded by a slightly raised membrane (a large elongate slit on one 

 side in the larger specimen, at hand, being abnormal) , situated above 

 anterior part of eye; gill opening quite oblique, about as long as the 

 large eye; vertical fins not with especially thick skin, narrowly con- 

 fluent around the slender tail, the dorsal rather high over most of 

 the caudal portion of body, originating well in advance of gill open- 

 ing, distance anterior to its origin 4.1, 4.1 in length anterior to vent, 

 1.25, 1.25 in head. 



Color of preserved specimens dark brown, the fins darker than the 

 body ; body with comparatively few scattered pale dots in the smaller 

 specimen at hand, profusely dotted in the larger one; the dots ex- 

 tending on the fins, but not on the ventral surface of head and trunk; 

 pale dots minute on head, becoming larger posteriorly, especially on 

 distal part of the slender tail. 



Two specimens, 625 and 795 mm. long, were taken by the Mission on 

 August 15, 1941, with a line trawl, in about 12 fathoms, in the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil, near Cabo Blanco. The smaller specimen is a gravid 

 female. Although the two specimens are somewhat dissimilar in color 

 and differ to some extent in some of the proportions, as shown in the 

 description in which the proportions pertaining to the smaller speci- 

 men in each instance are given first, the two undoubtedly are of the 

 same species. The larger one (U.S.N.M. No. 127842), though some- 

 what abnormal as to its right posterior nostril, is designated as type. 



This species is! very close to P. ocellaius (Agassiz), ranging on the 

 Atlantic coast from North Carolina presumably to Uruguay. Upon 

 comparison of several specimens from North Carolina and from 



