U]\ri]RA KRAMERI. 367 



The sealed head gives this fish its most distinctive eharacter. It has the 

 hody four and a half to five times as long- as deep, but is deeper than usual 

 l)ehind the dorsal fin, so that its appearance is rather strong than elegant. The 

 head is nearly as long as the hody is deep, and twice the thickness of the body. 

 The head is longer than high and twice as long as broad, though the thickness 

 increases with ag-e. The diameter of the eye is one-quarter the length of the 

 head. The eyes are separated by their own diameter and are the same distance 

 behind the extremity of the snout. The small double nares are nearer to the 

 extremity of the snout than to the eye. The maxillary bone extends under 

 the middle of the eye and forms part of the margin of the moderately large 

 mouth. The lower jaw is rather the longer and is pointed in the middle. 

 There are no teeth on the maxillary bone or on the tongue, but the pre-maxillary, 

 mandible, vomer, and palatine bones have fine-pointed teeth in bands. The 

 opercular apparatus is large, with a rounded margin and ^^y^'^^^Frr^^^^g.^^ 

 large gill-aperture. There are five branehiostegal rays on ^ . 



the right and six on the left. The pseudobranchiffi are in- ^ -^ 



visible and glandular. The first gill-ray is so slender and _*v.. _ _^ 

 fine, according to Heckel and Kner, that it might be Fig 170. _ ui\]) or 

 easily overlooked; the hindermost ray is very wide and jKorABmT."''' '"^ 

 Hat. Both the belly and back are broad and rounded ; 



the ventral profile is rather the more convex of the two, and the depth of the 

 tail exceeds the thickness of the body. The somewhat long dorsal fin begins 

 behind the middle of the body ; its branched rays are equal in length. The 

 anal fin has a short base and is below the hinder part of the dorsal ; it is 

 rounded. The ventral fins, which are narrow, are just in front of the 

 lieginning of the dorsal and reach back to the vent. The pectoral fin is as long 

 as the ventral, and its free border is similarly rounded. The middle rays of 

 the caudal fin are the longest, making the outline of the 

 fin rounded ; it is not quite so long as the head. The 

 fins constitute characters as distinctive as anything in the 

 structure of this fish. 



Except the point of the snout and jaws, the whole head 



is covered with scales, so that it passes insensibly into the 



^'^^iml"xKAMEiir ^''^^'^^ (Fig. 170). On the body the scales are large and 



nearly circular, but the attached basal margin is somewhat 



truncated (Fig. 171). The scales cover each other like roofing-slates, are soft, 



not firmly attached, with very fine concentric lines and no radiating ra3-s. 



The lateral line is marked only by a paler band, descending from the 

 neck down the side of the body, and shows no visible pores. It is roughly 

 parallel to the back and nearer tc) it than to the ventral margin. 



