148 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



lip; the anterior tubular, the posterior lobetl. Vertical and pectoral fins well developed; 

 caudal rays very short. Teeth iu jaws on cardiform bauds subequal iu size. Vomer den- 

 tigerous. 



MYKUS PACHYRHYNCHUS (Vaillant) Jordan aud Davis. (Figure 167.) 



Myrus pachyrhynehus (Vaillakt), Exp. Seient. Travailleur et Talisman, 1888, 11, pi. v, ligs. 1, la, lb. 

 Echelus pachyrhynchm, Jokdan and Davis, loc. cit. 



A Myrus with a short, thick snout, elongate body, and with a comparatively elongate 

 pectoral (its length 2}^ in that of head). Origin of dorsal behind tip of pectoral. Length of 

 tail three-ttfths of total length. Ueight aud thickness of body 33 in total length. Length 

 of snout oue-third of total length of the head; diameter of eye and of interorbital space 

 eipuil to one- fifth of same. Lateral line distinct. Color gray; fins paler. Gill openings 

 black. 



Myrus pachyrhynehus is the abyssal representative, not very remote in its afiinities, of 

 Myrus myrus (L.), a well-known Mediterranean form and M. uropterus (Schlegel) from 

 Japan. It has been found off the Morocco coast, 1,050 to 1,435 meters, and also at the Cape 

 Verdcs in 160 fathoms. 



Family NETTASTOMID^E. 

 NeUastomidw, Jordan aud Davis, Rep. U. S. F. C, 1888 (1891), 649. 



This family, as understood by us, contains a few species of deep-sea eels closely allied 

 to the Mura'ncsocidw in technical characters, but more resembling the NemiclithyidK iu 

 appearance, form of the head, and iu dentition. The family, which is a provisional one, may 

 be thus defined. 



Enchelycephalous eels without pectoral fins, with the tongue not free, the posterior 

 nostrils remote from the lip, the giU openings small, separate, and subinferior, the vent 

 remote fii'om the head, the tail ending in a slender tip or filament, the dorsal and anal tins 

 moderately developed, aud the jaws produced, slender, and straight, the upper the longer, 

 and both, as also the vomer, armed with bauds of sharp, close-set, recurved, subequal teeth. 



Three genera are known, deep-sea fishes with fragile bodies aud the thin skin charged 

 with black pigment. (Jordan and Davis.) 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF NETTASTOMID^. 

 [After Jordan .and Davis.] 



I. Dorsal fin low, beginning nearly above gill opening. 



A. Nostrils nearly superior, the posterior above and in front of eye, the anterior at tip of bony portion 



of snout ; head with numerous mucous pores. 



1. Snout without a fleshy proboscis, the anterior nostrils near its tip Nettastoma 



2. Snout, with a long, slender, fleshy tiji or proboscis, at the base of which are the anterior nostrils 



Venefica. 



B. Nostrils lateral, the posterior slit-like and placed just in iront of eye; snout without fleshy tip. 



C'HLOPSIS 



NETTASTOMA, Rafinesque. 



Nettastoma, Rafinesque, C.aratteri Alcuni Nuovi Generi, etc., 1810, 66 (type, Nettastoma melanura, Raf.).— 



GOntiieu, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., viii, 48.— Jordan, Cat. Fish. N. Amer., 54, note. 

 Hyoprorm, KOlliker, Verhandlung Phys. Med. Gesellsch. Wurzburg, iv, 1854, 101. 



Body scaleless, with tail tapering into a point. Snout much produced, depressed, 

 its anterior nostrils near its tip and nearly superior, the posterior above and iu front of 

 eye. Jaws and vomer with bauds of cardiform teeth, those along the median line of the 

 vomer being somewhat the larger. Vertical fins well developed. Dorsal commencing 

 behind gill opening; pectorals absent. Air bladder present. Gill openings moderate. 

 [Jordan.) 



Nettastoma parviceps, a small-headed species, most resembling K melanurum, from a 

 specimen 20.i inches long, dredged by the Challencjer otf Japan, in 345 fathoms. (Giinther, 

 Challenger Eeport, xxii, p. 253, pi. lsiii, fig. A.) 



