41. PARALEPIDID^ SUDIS. 277 



to the premaxillary. Teeth rather strong, pointed, in single series on 

 the jaws and palatines; some of them on lo\yer jaw and palatines some- 

 times very long and fang-like, and most of them freely depressible. 

 Opercular bones thin. PsendobranehiiC i)resent. Gill-membranes sei)- 

 arate, free from the isthmns. Brauchiostegals about 7. Gill:rakers 

 short, sharp, spine-like. Eye large. Lateral line present, its scales 

 usually enlarged. Dorsal fin short and small, behind the middle of the 

 body, nearly or quite over the ventrals. Adijiose tin present; anal fin 

 low, rather long; caudal fin short, narrow, forked; pectorals rather 

 small, placed low. Pyloric cceca none. No air-bladder. Phosphores- 

 cent spots few or none. Fishes of the deep waters of the Atlantic and 

 Pacific, resembling Sphyrwna in form and dentition. A single genus 

 and about 5 sj)ecies are now known. 



{ScopelidcB, g oup Faralcpidina Giinther, v, 418, 420.) 



129.— SUDIS Eafinesque. 



{Paralepis Risso.) 



(Rafinesque, Caratteri di Alcuni Nuovi Geueri, etc. 1810, 60: type Sudis hyalhia Raf. of 

 the Mediterranean.) 



Characters of the genus included above. Two genera are usually 

 recognized, differing in the development of the canines of the lower jaw, 

 a character which appears to be of minor importance. (Latin sudis, a 

 stake, an ancieut name of Sphyrwna.) 



"Lower jaw with 3-5 very long fang-like teeth on each side. (Sudifi.) 



460. S. ring:cns Jordan & Gilbert. 



Body very slender and elongate, compressed, the depth forming about 

 one-sixteenth of the length. Head rather slender, anteriorly pointed 

 and moderately depressed. Mouth large, horizontal, the gape extending 

 more than half the length of the head. Margin of the upi)er jaw formed 

 entirely by tlie very slender, nearly straight premaxillaries, which are 

 closely appressed to the long and slender maxillaries. Maxillaries ex- 

 tending to below the eye, nearly as far as the mandibular joint. Tip of 

 upper jaw emarginate; tip of lower jaw rather broad, turned up, and 

 fitting in the notch of the upper jaw. Premaxillaries armed with a 

 series of small, shari^, subequal, close-set teeth, which are hooked back- 

 ward ; a- long, slender canine in front on each side. Lower j;iw with 

 about 10 sharp, slender teeth on each side, these teeth very unequal, 

 some of them short, three or four very long and canine-like. Near the 

 front is one fang-like tooth on each side, then a considerable interspace. 



