194 



wMcli tapers very slightly, is therefore more than four times the combined head 

 and trunk in length. 



Snout acutely pointed, overhanging the upper jaw ; its length is one-fifth 



that of the head and 2^ times that of the small deeply subcutaneous eye ; its 



surface is densely crowded, like the lips, with minute pores. Nostrils large ; the 

 anterior, which is tubular, is situated near the tip of the snout, the posterior is a 

 valved foramen lying immediately before the angle of the eye. 



Mouth wide, its cleft being nearly half the head in length ; small sharp 

 teeth in a single row in the mandible and a double row in the maxilla ; vomer 

 with a row of three large teeth. The mandibular teeth are small and close-set 

 posteriorly, larger and more distinct anteriorly. 



Gill-openings small, close together near the mid-abdominal line; the gill- 

 covers are formed of tough skin, in which branchiostegal rays are faintly ap- 

 parent ; branchial arches weak, gill-laminge broad. 



Skin scaleless, enveloped in thick, very tenacious mucus. Lateral line a 

 row of indistinct pores. Vertical fins confluent, the dorsal beginning halfway 

 between the gill-opening and the vent, the anal immediately behind the vent. 

 No pectoral fins. 



The abdominal cavity extends almost to the tip of the tail, its posterior part 

 being occupied solely by the genital glands and air-bladder. 



Stomach with a long tapering csBcal sac reaching some distance behind the 

 vent, intestine forming a single loop, the convexity of which embraces the gastric 

 caecum. Air-bladder a long nacreous tube extending from the occiput almost to 

 the tip of the tail ; much inflated anteriorly, and tapering posteriorly to a fine 

 thread. 



Colours in life deep purple-black. 



Bay of Bengal, 240 to 270 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 13106, 13107, 



Synaphobeanchina, Gthr. 

 Synaphobranchus, Johnson. 



Synaphobranohus, Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1862: Gunther, Cat. Fishes, VIII., p. 22, and Challenger Deep-Sea 

 Fishes, p. 253 : Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 142 : Jordan and Evermann, Fishes N. Amer., p. 351. 



Gill-openings ventral, united into a longitudinal slit between the pectoral 

 fins, separate internally. Pectoral and vertical fins well developed. Nostrils 

 lateral, the anterior subtubular. Cleft of the mouth very wide ; teeth small. 

 Body scaly. 



Distribution : Atlantic, Arabian Sea, Western Pacific. 



