3g4: contributions to north american ichthyology iv. 



Family LIV.— SYNAPHOBRANCHID^E. 



[The Synaphohranchoid Eels.) 



Body eelsliaped, covered with linear, imbedded scales placed at right 

 angles, as in Angidlla. Lateral line present. Head long and pointed, 

 the snout produced. Mouth very long, the eye being over the middle of 

 its cleft. Jaws about equal ; teeth small, sharp, in a broad band in each 

 jaw, becoming a single series anteriorly; those of inner series in upper 

 jaw and of outer series in mandible somewhat enlarged; vomerine teeth 

 in a narrow band anteriorly. Gill-openings inferior, horizontal, close 

 -together, convergent forward, somewhat confluent at the surface, but 

 separated by a considerable isthmus within. Tongue long, free only at 

 the sides. Nostrils large, the anterior with a short tube, the posterior 

 before the lower part of the eye. Pectoral well developed ; dorsal low, 

 beginning behind vent; anal longer than dorsal, rather high, its rays 

 slender, branched, not imbedded in the skin; vertical fins confl.uent 

 around the tail. Vent near the anterior fourth of body. Muscular and 

 osseous systems well developed. Stomach very distensible. Deep-sea 

 fishes ; a single genus with 4 species known. 



(^Murcenidcc, group Synaphohranckina Giintlier, viii, 23-23.) 



176.— SYNAPHOBKAlVCHfJS Johnson. 



(Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1862, 169: type SynapTiobranchus kaiipii Johnson = 

 Murana pinnata Gronow.) 



Characters of the genus mcluded above. [auvacl'Tj^, joined; l^payxo?, 

 gills.) 



590. S. E»iEinatus (Gronow) Giinther. 



Uniform brown, rather darker below ; the vertical fins darker behind, 

 light-edged anteriorly; inside of mouth blue-black; gill-openings dark. 

 Jaws subequal in length, sometimes the lower, sometimes the upper the 

 longer; the upper with a projecting fleshy tip; maxillary reaching to 

 opposite gill-openings, which are rather longer than the large eye. 

 Head 3^ in distance from snout to dorsal, 2| in distance to anal, 8| in 

 length. Eye broader than interorbital space, rather nearer tip of snout 

 than end of maxillary. Pectoral slender, longer than snout. New- 

 foundland to Madeira, "a common resident of the deep waters of the 

 off-shore banks in 200 to 300 fathoms, where individuals are often taken 

 on the fishermen's trawl lines." 



(Murcena pinnata Gronow, Syst. Ich. ed. Gray, 1854, 19; Giinther, viii, 22 j Goode & 

 Bean, Bull. Essex Inst, si, 1879, 26.) 



