424 STOMIATID.a:. 



Fam. 6. STOMIATIDiE. 



Skin naked or with exceedingly fine scales ; a hyoid 

 barbel. Margin of the upper jaw formed by the in- 

 termaxillary and maxillary, which are both toothed ; 

 opercular apparatus but little developed. Gill-opening 

 very wide; pseudobranchise none. (Air-bladder ab- 

 sent ?) Adipose fin absent or present. The eggs are 

 enclosed in the sacs of the ovarium, and excluded by 

 oviducts. 



Pelagic or deep-sea fishes which hitherto have been found in the 

 Atlantic only. 



We divide them into two groups : — 



A. Two dorsal fins : the anterior above the interspace between ven- 



trals and anal ; the posterior adipose : Astronesthina. 



Body scaleless 1. Astronesthes, p. 424. 



B. One dorsal fin, opposite to the anal : Stomiatlna. 



Body with exceedingly fine and deciduous scales. 2. Stomias, p. 426. 



Body scaleless ; teeth on the palate 3. Echiostoma, p. 427. 



Body scaleless ; no teeth on the palate 4. Malacosteus, p. 427. 



First Group. ASTRONESTHINA. 



1. ASTRONESTHES. 



Astronesthes, Richards. Ichth. Voy. Sulph. p. 97. . 

 Phsenodon, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 250. 



Body rather elongate and compressed, scaleless, with the vent 

 situated at no great distance from the caudal fin. Head rather com- 

 pressed, with the snout short and with the cleft of the mouth wide. 

 Teeth pointed, unequal in size, two pairs in the upper jaw and one 

 in the lower being long, curved canine teeth ; maxillary finely and 

 subequally denticulated ; vomer with a pair of small fangs ; palatines 

 with a single series of small pointed teeth, similar to those of the 

 tongue. Eye of moderate size. A fleshy barbel is suspended from 

 the centre of the hyoid region. Dorsal fin rather long, opposite the 

 interspace between the ventrals and the anal; caudal forked; pec- 

 toral and ventral fins well developed. Series of luminous dots run 

 along the lower side of the head, body, and tail. Gill-opening very 

 wide, the outer branchial arch with minute gill-rakers; pseudo- 

 branchiae none ; air-bladder none. Stomach caecal. 



Atlantic. 



