THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 



135 



Florida only the following differences were noticed: The snout projects 

 slightly and is rather longer in the Atlantic specimens, being contained 

 5.1 to 5.4 in the head, whereas it is coterminal with the mandible in the 

 Peruvian ones and is contained 6.25 and 6.3 in the head; the gape 

 apparently is longer in the Atlantic species, being contained in the 

 head 2.15 times if measm-ed from the tip of snout, compared with 2.8 

 in the Peruvian ones; the teeth are proportionately longer, slenderer, 

 and less sharklike in the Atlantic specimens, with finer serrations, 

 especially on anterior margins, and the vomer has small teeth on the 

 shaft in all the specimens examined, which the Peruvian specimens do 

 not possess. 



Range. — Only the type material, two specimens from the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil, taken near Cabo Blanco, Peru, is known. 



Figure 31. — Priodonophis equatorialis, new species. From the type, 795 mm. long, Cabo 

 Blanco, Peru (U.S.N.M. No. 127842). Inserts: A, Diagram showing shape and pro- 

 portions; B, mouth spread open, showing teeth. 



Family OPHICHTHYIDAE: Snake Eels 



Body slender,^ scaleless; mouth large,^" horizontal; tongue present, 

 usually adnate to floor of mouth; anterior nostril in upper lip, with a 

 tube directed downward; gill openings lateral or subinferior, well 

 separated; tail extending beyond dorsal and anal fins, usually ending 

 in a rather sharp horny point. 



A single genus comes within the scope of the present work. 



Genus OPHICHTHUS Ahl, 1787 



Body cylindrical or sub cylindrical; snout moderately pointed, gen- 

 erally projecting beyond mandible; eye small, in anterior third of head; 

 mouth large, the cleft extending below or beyond eye; teeth acute or 

 conic, no special canines, in one or more series in jaws and on vomer; 



• Proportions of depth of body given in descriptions are not accurate, as some specimens became distorted 

 in the process of preservation and others shriveled. 



'" Proportions m the descriptions pertaining to the size of the mouth or gape are based on the distance from 

 the tip of the snout to the angle of the mouth. 



