14 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Scomhrops, Schlegel. 



Scomhrops chilodipteroides, Blkr. 



This fish, which was originally described by Schlegel in the Fauna Japouica, seems 

 to be scarce on the coast of Japan, as it is not distinguished by a vernacular name. The 



Challenger Expedition obtained one specimen only, 

 16 inches long, off Inosima, at a depth of 345 

 fathoms. Like other Japanese fish Scomhrops re- 

 appears in the AVest Indies, Poey having described 

 a closely allied species under the name of Latehrus 

 ocidatiis} The reason why I hesitate in specifically 

 identifying the Cuban with the Japanese fish is 

 the circumstance that Poey figures the strong teeth 

 of the jaws as distinctly barbed, although he 

 singidarly enough does not allude to this peculiarity 

 in the description. Difi'erences in the statements 

 of the number of the scales are of much less weight 

 in regard to these fishes, because the transverse 

 series are rather irregularly arranged and do not 

 correspond with the number of scales along the 

 lateral line. Poey also found only ten pyloric 

 appendages in his specimen. He states that the 

 fish is rare and an inhabitant of great depths. 



Scomhrops shows some noteworthy peculiarities 

 in the structure of its abdominal organs. The gall- 

 bladder [g) is excessively prolonged, lying behind 

 the lower intestine and extending to the end of the 

 abdominal cavity. The stomach [st] is very short 

 and small, but the pyloric appendages {p), of which 

 there are eighteen, are very long and wide. Seven- 

 teen of them are convoluted and form a large 

 bundle, whilst the eighteenth {p>') is straight, accom- 

 panying the anterior portion of the intestine. The 

 intestine ({) makes only one entire convolution. 

 The air-bladder is large, attached to the walls of the 

 abdomen, with the ventral part of its outer tunic thickened and giving support to the miich 

 developed glandular red bodies. 



1 Jlem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, ii., 1858, p. 168, Tali. xiii. fig.s. 11, 12 ; Tab. xiv. fig. 2. 



Fig. 1. — Scomhrops chilodiptcrindcx. st, .stomach ; 

 i, i, intestine ; p, pyloric ajipemlages ; p', pyloric 

 appendage separated from the re.<it ; I, liver, part of 

 which has been removed ; g, gall-bladder ; a, end 

 of ductus choledochus ; v, vent , o, o, ovaries. 



