238 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



and broad, generally about as long as snout and eye, its posterior angle about 30°. 

 Gill rakers moderately slender, those at angle of first arch about as long as pupil, 

 rather spinulose along inner margin, scarcely expanded at tip. 



Dorsal fin with longest rays not reaching tip of posterior ray if deflexed, its margin 

 generally slightly concave, its origin usually about equidistant between posterior margin 

 of eye and base of caudal. Anal with a definite lobe anteriorly, its base 4.25—4.75 in 

 SL, its origin about under middle of dorsal base and equidistant between pectoral base 

 and caudal base, or a little nearer to the former. Pelvic generally extending a little less 



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Figure 55. Lycengratilis limnichthys, type specimen, from Rio Agua Caliente, above Maracaibo Basin, \'ene- 

 zuela, USNM 121751. Drawn by A. M. Awl. 



than halfway to anal, inserted somewhat nearer to pectoral base than to origin of anal, 

 2.4—2.8 in head. Pectoral reaching to or a little beyond base of pelvic in small 

 specimens, frequently failing to reach pelvic in large ones, 1.25— 1.4 in head. Axil- 

 lary SCALE of pectoral variable in length, reaching somewhat beyond midlength of 

 pectoral to beginning of its distal fourth, 1.4—2.25 in head. 



Color. Back pale, with a median dark streak, much more distinct in some speci- 

 mens than in others. Sides with a broad silvery lateral band in adults, becoming diffused 

 with the silvery color on the lower part of side in large examples, quite narrow in young. 

 Dorsal and caudal fins with dusky punctulations, the margin of the latter much darker 

 in some specimens than in others; other fins plain. Peritoneum silvery. 



Size. The largest example in the collection studied is i 50 mm TL and i 1 6 mm 

 SL, which may be near the maximum size attained. 



Development. The smallest, 19 mm SL, is slender and has all fins well developed. 

 The caudal fin is as deeply forked as that in the adult, and the other fins have ac- 

 quired approximately the same shape and relative position as those in adults. The 

 snout remains shorter and projects less strongly beyond the mandible than in larger 

 specimens; the maxillary, also much shorter and rounder, fails to reach the joint of the 

 mandible; and the teeth in the jaws are scarcely evident. 



