ANGLER FISHES GILL. 



595 



Almost all of the Halieutines are much depressed, but an exception 

 is manifest in the Halieutella lappa, as will be evident from the two 

 figures here reproduced. The body is unusually convex above as well 

 as below^, and the two surfaces are limited by the zone of spiny tuber- 

 cles which beset the sides of the disk as in other species of the family. 

 The subglobular shape, as well as spinescense, have suggested the 

 name lappa (burdock) which has been given to it. The only specimen 

 yet found was a small one (1^ inches long) dredged from a depth of 

 125 fathoms off the New England coast (lat. 39° 58' 30" N., long. 

 70° 37' W.). Two other 

 species, however, have 

 been described. Except 

 for form the species agree 

 with Halieutichthys and. 

 like that genus, have vo- 

 merine and palatine teeth 

 as well as a half-gill on 

 the fourth arch (2, |). 



So far as our present 

 knowledge goes, the most 

 abundant and generally 

 distributed of the Halieu- 

 tines is the Dihranclius at- 

 lanficus, Rrst made known 

 in 1875, very numerous 

 specimens having been 

 dredged in the Atlantic 

 Ocean and near the Afri- 

 can as well as American 

 coast at depths ranging 

 between 22 and 523 fath- 

 oms. A single specimen 

 was obtained off Block Is- 

 hmd in 1880. The color 

 is " uniform reddish gray 

 above, slightly lighter below." The disk is ovate and modified in 

 appearance by the development of opercular spines or processes 

 behind the lateral borders. The generic characters are absence of 

 teeth from the roof of the mouth, absence of gills from the first 

 and fourth gill-arches, and the slightly produced supra-rostral 

 region. 



Half a dozen species of Dibranchus have been described in recent 

 years from the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as the Atlantic. 



A third subfamily type (Coelophry nines) is represented by a small 

 Ogcocephalid described by Dr. A. Brauer in 1902, In this the body 



Fig. 38. — Halieutella lappa. Views from side and 

 above. After Goode and Bean. 



