Fishes taken at Madeira. 1G7 



The fish is of a uniform dark brownish-grey colour, with fins 

 of a bluish black. The body is oblong, attenuated, and com- 

 pressed behind, the thickest part being under the second dorsal 

 fin, and the tail behind the dorsal fin low and thin. In general 

 appearance it closely resembles Mora mediterranea, Risso (which 

 has been of late years abundant in the market of Funchal, where 

 it bears the name of Abrotea do alto), but is at once distinguished 

 by the single anal fin. The head is scaly, thick, unarmed, 

 rounded in the neighbourhood of the eyes, and flat between 

 them; the mucous pores are numerous; the cheeks convex. 

 The snout is short and rounded. The nostrils are close to- 

 gether, and the posterior is the smaller; the anterior has an 

 elevated semitubular border on its hinder side. The eye is 

 round and of moderate size ; it is contained about six times in 

 the head, is distant about 1^ of its diameter from the snout ; it 

 is high up, and the distance between the two is about lj of the 

 diameter. 



The seven-rayed branchiostegal membrane is much exposed, 

 being left in great part unprotected by the gill-cover. 



The rictus is wide and moderately deep. The lower portions 

 of the upper jaw, which is scaleless, are very protrusile; and 

 when the mouth is open, the orifice is nearly circular. The 

 lower jaw is furnished with a thick cartilaginous lip, and shuts 

 inside the upper jaw. There is a barbel at the chin. The pre- 

 maxillary forms the upper border of the mouth ; the maxillary 

 is broad below, and reaches back nearly to the vertical from the 

 middle of the eye. The teeth are small, and form scobinate 

 bands in the premaxillary and mandibles, that in the former 

 being broader in front and narrowing backwards on each side, 

 whilst the band in the lower jaw is nearly of the same width 

 throughout. There is a small patch of similar teeth on the 

 vomer, but none on the palatines or tongue, which is broad, 

 thick, and pointed in front. The pharyngeals are armed with 

 scobinate teeth. 



The first dorsal fin is short, having only four rays, of which 

 the first is much elongated, and is equal to one-third of the total 

 length of the fish. It commences over the pectoral fins, at a 

 distance from the snout nearly equal to one-fourth of the total 

 length of the fish. The long second dorsal fin is separated by only 

 a short interval from the first. Its rays project beyond the mem- 

 brane, and it falls in slightly between the two extremities, the 

 largest rays being in the anterior third. The posterior extre- 

 mity of the fin is angular, and the last three rays very short. 

 The highest part of the fin is about two-sevenths of the greatest 

 height of the fish. 



The pointed pectoral fins arc inserted in the upper half of the 



