115. LYCODID^. 783 



iugs forming reticulations around tbe spots; head paler, with the retic- 

 ulations in much finer pattern; anal imle-edged. Pectorals broad, more 

 tliau half l«Migth of head. Longest spines of dorsal half length of head. 

 Head 11; depth 15. D. CCL; A. 233; P. 19. L. 5-8 feet. Pacific 

 coast, from Monterey north to Puget Sound. Feeds largely on Ech- 

 inoids. 



(xVyres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sei. i, .31, lS^^^y^. Anarrhiclithjsfdis Girard, U. S. Pac. 

 K. K. Surv. Fish. 1658, 125: AnarrMchthys fvlis Giinther, iii, *211.) 



Family CXV.— LYCODID^.* 



{The Eelpouts.) 



Bod}^ elongate, more or less eel-shaped, naked or covered with very 



small, imbedded, cycloid scales; head large; mouth large, with conical 



teeth in jaws, and sometimes on vomer and i>alatines; bones of head 



unarmed. Gill-membranes broadly united to the isthmus; pseudo- 



branchiai present ; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Dorsal and anal 



fins very long, of soft rays only, or the former with a few posterior 



spines; vertical fins continent around the tail; pectorals small; ven- 



trals jugular, very small or wanting. Lateral line obsolete or nearly so. 



Gill-rakers small ; pyloric coeca rudimentary; vent not near the head. 



Genera about G; species 30. Bottom fishes, chiefly of the Arctic and 



Antarctic seas; some of them, and perhaps all, are viviparous. 



(Lycodldw Giintlier, iv, 319-326: genus Zoarces Giiutlier, iii, 295: Zoarchidw Swain- 

 son.) 



a. Dorsal fin low bRhind, some of its posterior rays short and spine-like; A'cntrals 

 small. (Zoardiia;.) 



h. Scales present; teeth strong, conic, in jaws only Zoaucks, 42.5. 



aa. Dorsal lin continuous. {Li/codime.) 

 c. Ventral fins present. 



d. Vomer and palatines toothless; scales present Lycodopsis, 426. 



dd. Vomer and palatines with teeth. 



e. Scales present Lycodks, 427. 



ee. Scales obsolete Lycodalei'IS, 428. 



cc. Ventral fins wanting. 



/. Jaws equal; body scaleless Gymnelis, 429. 



ff. Jaws unequal, the lower projecting Uronectes, 430. 



* The six families following (Ziycorfida', Congrogadidm, Fierasferidce, Ophidiidw, Gadidce, 

 Macrurida') constitute the group or HnhovAev o^ Anacanthini or Jugularcs, distingnishod 

 from the other Acanthopleri by the long dorsal and anal fins, which are comjiosed of 

 soft rays only. The ventral fins, if present, are jugular. The present family is called 

 Zoarcidw in the key, on pag(5 79. 



