924 



SCANDINAVIAN I'ISIIES. 



St-BFAMiLY S T E R N P T Y C H I N iE. 



I',nd)i of (I siii(/i(Iar irri'fjtdar fonii, deep and compressed, espec/dl/ii in the (d/domhi<d junf, irliose sharp roifral 



iiiarf/hi is ahrujifli/ cat of hij a jiosteriorhi ascending break {posfahdoniiaaJ part) from the ander surface of the 



fail. Cleft of the moath sharpli/ ascendinc/. Snoaf shorter than the jiostorliitcd part of the head. 



By its singular form of body, deep as that of the 

 Dory or the thinnest Carangoids, but with an abrupt 

 break in tlie inferior profile between tiie abdominal 

 and caudal regions, this subfamily is so well distin- 

 guished from all other tishes that no detailed diagnosis 

 can be necessary. The resemblance in the form of the 

 body to Zeus (see above, p. 305, note «), and the si- 

 milar structure of the ventral margin in Trachichthys, 

 a Berycoid form (see F^owe, Fish. Madeir., \>. 64), 

 have suggested that these fishes should be included 

 among the Acanthopterygiaiis. But merel}- their lu- 



minous spots and tiie distribution thereof ought, at the 

 first glance, to assign them to their right place, beside 

 the other Scopeloids. Only four species, distributed 

 among three genera, are known with certainty. All 

 are nocturnal surface-fishes, which by day descend to 

 some depth lielow the surface, but at night ascend to 

 higher strata. They belong to the basins both of the 

 Atlantic and the Pacific, strictly to the warmer regions 

 thereof; but on the Norwegian coast is occasionally 

 found a species of the 



Genus ARGYROPELECUS". 



Forepart of the bach sarmnunted by an erect, thin and transparent, osseous structure, resembling a dorsal Jin, 

 and com.posed of the neural spines of the anterior abdominal rertebrce and their chondrified interspaces. 



Jaw-teeth set in one ron\ | 



Of this genus, which is known exclusively from 

 the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Valenciennes'' 

 has indeed adopted four species; but two of them are 



known only from his somewhat defective descrip- 

 tions, and the other two come extremely near to eacl 

 other. 



" Coooo, Giorn. Scieiic, Lett., Art. Sic, No. 77, Palemio 1829. The name signifies, according to Agassiz, with silccr helmet {IxQ- 

 yi'QOg, sih-er, and 7rr^?.rj§, helmet). To Cooco's paper we have not been able lo refer. 

 '' Cov., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., torn. XXII, pp. 392, scqq. 



