370 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



LEPIDION, Swainson. 



LtpUVwn, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fishes, etc, i, 1838, :il8; ii, 1839, 188, 300. 



IJaloporphiirus, GiJNTUEU, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 1862, 358.— JouUAX ami Gilbert, Bull, xvi, IT. S. Nat. 

 Miis., 800. 



Gadoids having au elougate, compressed, liake-like body. Scales very small, covering 

 not only tlie body but the entire head, even to the gill-membranes. Snout produced, de- 

 pressed. Mouth rather large, subinferior. Jaws with bands of villiform teeth; vomerine 

 teeth iu a small roundish patch; palatines toothless. Dorsal composed of a very short and 

 a very long division. The anterior ray of the first dorsal lilamentous and produced. Anal 

 deeply notched. Yentrals narrow, composed of (5 rays, one of them filamentous. Caudal 

 truncate. A barbel ui>on the chin. Branchiostegals 7.* 



LEPIDION ElSSOI, Swainson. (Figure 323.) 



Gadiis lepidion, Eisso, Ichth. Nice, 1810, 118, pi. xi.fig. 40. 



Lola leitidion, Risso, Hist. Nat. Eur. Mcrid., iii, 1826,218. — BoXArAHTE, Catalogo Metodico, 44. 

 LejiUUon liii<><oi, Swainson, oj). cU., i, 1838, 319. 

 Lepidion riihcscens, Swainson, oj*. lit., II, 1889, 307. 



MaioporphijruH lepidion, Giglioli, Natuic, January 1, 1880. — Vinciguekha, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, xviii, 558, 

 taf. III.— GuNTHER, Challenger Report, xxii, 91. — Canestiuni, Pesci d'ltaliti, 157. 



A Lepidion having a broad, thick, flat head, covered with scales, and with an 

 occipital keel. The length of the head coutaiued 4.] times in the total length of the hsh. 

 Snout depressed, short, obtuse. Mouth broad, its angle under the anterior portion of the 

 orbit. Upi")er jaw broad, longer than the mandible. Teeth small, cardiform, on the jaws 

 and vomer. Eye large, round, its diameter contained oi times in the length of the head, 

 and nearly equal to the length of the snout. Tip of maxillary extending beyond vertical 

 from the middle of the orbit. Scales very small, from 155 to 160 in the lateral line, and 

 about 11 longitudinal rows between the first dorsal and the lateral line, which is a little curved 

 anteriorly, but straight after it passes the vertical from the origin of the anal. The first 

 dorsal i)laced far forward, in vertical from the insertion of the pectorals; it is comj)osed of 

 only 4 rays, the first of which is much prolonged; its length two-fifths the total length of 

 the fish. The second dorsal with a very long base. The median rays of the anal are much 

 shorter than the others, giving it a crescentic emarginate outline. Caudal long, rounded. 

 Yentrals very long, their tips reaching the anus, but rarely extending beyond those of the 

 pectoral rays. 



Radial formula: D. 4+52; A. 46-48; V. 6. 



Color, grayish-brown with a reddish tint. The second dorsal blue, edged with black; 

 the other fins more or less brown iu alcoholic specimens. The caudal and anal blackish, 

 as are the opercles. 



This species, originally described from Nice in 1810, was said by Risso to be very rare, 

 and only taken at considerable depths in the month of August. It has never been seen 

 elsewhere than at Nice, w^here Giglioli obtained specimens in September, 1879. 



The Madeiran form identified with this by Gunther before he had had the opportunity 

 of examining a specimen, has since been determined to bo distinct, and was renamed by 

 Giglioli, Maloporvkyrm Oiinthcri. 



LEPIDION GiJNTHERI, (Giglioli), Goode and Bean. 



Haloporphyrus lepidion, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mas., iv, 358. — Johnson, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1862, 



X, 166. 

 Baloporphyrus Giinthcri, Giglioli, Nature, January 1, 1880. — Vinciguerra, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genoa, xviii, 



558.— GtJNTiiER, Challenger Report, xxii, 90, pi. xviii, fig. A. 



*Aecording to Dr. Giinther (v. 4, p. 358), "the generic name Lepidion isi)rcoccupied,"but it is not stated 

 in what way. Wlien it is rememben^d that Daeti/lajyus was said to l>c preoccniiicd because Meyer had named 

 a group of extinct reptiles l)<ulyh>poda. It will be understood wliy as no record of an earlier use of Lepidion 

 than 1838 appears in tlic nonienclators, we must adoi)t it (ill furtlier information is given as to the nature of 

 the supposed preoccupation. Savigny had given Wn- name l.epidin to a genus of worms in 1817, aiul Lcpellctier 

 had named Lepisia a gcuus of beetles in 1825, but those arc suUiciently distinct from the Swainsouiau uaino. 

 — Gill. 



