352 The Grayling and the Smelt 
tensible mouth, the species capable of swallowing fishes much 
larger than themselves. 
The viper-fishes (Chauliodontide) are very feeble and very 
voracious little fishes occasionally brought up from the depths. 
Chauliodus sloanei is notable for the length of the fangs. 
Much smaller and feebler are the species of the closely 
related family of Gonostonuide. Gonostoma and Cyclothone 
dwell in oceanic abysses. One species, Cyclothone elongata, 
occurs at the depth of from half a mile to nearly four miles 
Fig 257.—Chauliodus sloanet Schneider. Grand Banks. 
almost everywhere throughout the oceans. It is probably 
the most widely distributed, as well as one of the feeblest and 
most fragile, of all bassalian or deep-sea fishes. 
Suborder Iniomi, the Lantern-fishes.—The suborder Jniomi 
(iviov, nape; mos, shoulder) comprises soft-rayed fishes, in 
which the shoulder-girdle has more or less lost its com- 
pleteness of structure as part of the degradation consequent 
on life in the abysses of the sea. These features distinguish 
these forms from the true Jsospondyli, but only in a very few 
of the species have these characters been verified by actual 
examination of the skeleton. The mesocoracoid arch is wanting 
or atrophied in all of the species examined, and the orbito- 
sphenoid is lacking, so faras known. The group thus agrees in 
most technical characters with the Haplomz, in which group they 
are placed by Dr. Boulenger. On the other hand the relation- 
ships to the Isospondyli are very close, and the Iniomi have many 
traits suggesting degenerate Isospondyli. The post-temporal 
has lost its usual hold on the skull and may touch the occiput 
on the sides of the cranium. Nearly all the species are soft 
in body, black or silvery over black in color, and all that live 
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