214 WAITE 
The front portion of the head is formed by the rostral hook, 
which entirely covers the mouth, and its hinder edge forms a 
vertical notch about an eye diameter in depth: the small eyes 
are placed a diameter apart and more than two diameters from 
the front of the head, the upper eye is slightly advanced and is 
placed further from the dorsal edge than is the lower eye from 
the ventral edge: the nostrils lie in a naked area nearer to the 
lower than to the upper eye: the upper maxillary is small, not 
more than an eye diameter in length, while the lower one is twice 
and a half times the same; gill-rakers short and conical, fourteen 
on the lower limb of the first arch; preopercle adnate. 
Teeth—Teeth on the lower jaw, none on other bones of the 
head. 
Fins—The dorsal fin begins almost at the tip of the rostral 
hook, the anterior rays are free, thence less so to at least above 
the eyes; they extend quite close to the base of the caudal rays: 
the right ventral and anal are continuous, and on the coloured 
side the ventral rays do not appear to be much the longer, on 
the blind side they are twice the length, the left ventral is very 
small, placed in front of a decided drop in the profile which 
occurs immediately behind the vent: the anal is otherwise 
similar to the dorsal, the longest rays being 3.3 in the head. 
Owing to the extended sheath the depth of the body on the 
right side is greater than that of the left. The right pectoral is 
long, 1.4 in the head, its second ray is produced, being an eye 
diameter longer than the head, the left pectoral is less than half 
the leneth of the head: the caudal is rounded and its peduncle 
is about one-fifth the depth of the body. 
Scales—The whole of the head, excepting the small areas, 
containing the nostrils, and the entire body is covered with 
imbricate ctenoid scales, the under side is equally scaly, but the 
scales are smooth, there are some large open pores in the 
neighbourhood opposite to the eyes and along the margin of the 
preopercle, and several rows of large papille on the head, one 
such runs from the front of the mouth, upwards and backwards, 
another between this and the dorsal margin, while a third borders 
the maxillary.: the upper and lower sides of the caudal and the 
right pectoral rays are for the greater part covered with small 
scales, but there are no scales on the other fins. 
Colours—Greenish grey above, without markings, wholly 
white below. 
Length.—392 mm., obtained up to 415 mm. 
This well known fish occurred throughout the area examined, 
and was also taken at the Chatham Islands. It was secured 
between the extremes of 9 and 50 fathoms. 
