412 BULLETIN 1S9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Although the Mission suppHed no specimens, it is "assumed" in 

 the report (1943, p. 286) that at least a part of the catch of "congrio" 

 made in northern Peru consisted of this species. 



Range.- — Known only from Paita, Peru. 



Family OPHIDIIDAE: Cusk Eels 



Body elongate, more or less eel-shaped; head long; lower jaw in- 

 cluded; premaxillaries protractile; both jaws, and usually vomer and 

 palatines with pointed teeth; gill openings large, the membranes 

 narrowly joined to isthmus behind ventrals; gills four, a slit behind 

 the fourth; scales small, covering body and occasionally the head, 

 sometimes embedded; dorsal and anal fins low, confluent with the 

 caudal; ventral fins inserted between the rami of lower jaw, reduced 

 to two barbellike filaments. 



A single genus is represented in the Peruvian collections studied. 



Genus GENYPTERUS Phllippi, 1857 



Body elongate, compressed; snout without a spine, but with a 

 bilobed, membranous flap at tip; eyes moderately large; mouth large; 

 outer teeth in jaws, most of those on vomer, and the single series on 

 palatines strong; branchiostegals seven or eight; opercle with a con- 

 cealed spine; lateral line present at least anteriorly; scales extending 

 forward over most of head, embedded, not imbricated ; dorsal and anal 

 confluent with the caudal. 



Two species are known from Peru. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



a. Dorsal with 150 to 155 rays''*; anal with 112; color dark brown, pale under- 

 neath; back and sides with small, irregularly shaped and arranged pale 



markings chilensis (p. 412) 



aa. Dorsal with 125 rays; anal 93 to 96; color brown, with large, hieroglyphiclike 

 pale markings raaculatus (p. 414) 



GENYPTERUS CHILENSIS (Guichenot) 

 CONGRIO COLORADO 



Conger chilensis Guichenot, in Gay, 1848, p. 339, Chile (original description). 



Genypterus blacodes Steindachner (not of Bloch and Schneider), 1902, p. 134, 

 Callao, Peru, and Caldera, Chile (brief description). — Evermann and Rad- 

 CLiFFE (not of Bloch and Schneider), 1917, p. 149, Mollendo, Peru (synonymy; 

 description). 



Genypterus chilensis Nichols and Murphy, 1922, p. 513, North Chincha Island. — 

 Norman, 1937, p. 113, Concepci6n and Valparaiso, Chile (synonymy; descrip- 

 tion; range). 



" Owing to the thickness of the skin and the slenderness of the rays, a satisfactory enumeration cannot be 

 made without cutting the skin along the base of the fins in the species of this genus. 



