2822 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



vulgaris}, which may grow to a length of eight feet, appears to be almost cosmo- 

 politan in distribution, being as abundant in the seas of Tasmania as it is in British 

 waters. Congers feed chiefly by night, and prey upon crustaceans, cuttles, and 

 various kinds of fish, such as pilchards and herrings. Their favorite resorts are 

 either hollows or crevices in the rocks, or sandy bottoms, in which they can bury 

 themselves; and in such situations they are sometimes left by the ebbing tide. 

 The flesh of these eels is of a highly gelatinous nature, and is said to be largely 

 employed in soups. Three other species of the genus are known, one of which is 

 abundant in the Indian Ocean. 



Among the numerous other generic modifications of the family, 

 we select for notice the serpent eels ( Ophichthys) as an example of a 

 group in which the extremity of the tail is free, the nostrils are situated at the 

 extremity of the muzzle, and the tongue is fixed. Teeth are present on the 

 vomers, those in the jaws being either obtuse, or pointed and arranged in a single 

 series; and whereas small pectoral fins are present in some species, in others they 

 are wanting. Serpent eels are represented by a great number of species, ranging 

 over all tropical and subtropical seas, but none attaining any large size. The 

 difference in the structure of the teeth of the various species may probably be taken 

 as indicative of a difference in the nature of the food similar to that already 

 recorded as obtaining among the mursenas. 



Only a few words can be devoted to the deep-sea members of the 

 s family , which are represented by several genera. Among these are 

 certain congers {Synaphobranchus} occurring in all oceans at depths of from three 

 hundred and forty to two thousand fathoms, and characterized by the gill openings 

 being united into a single longitudinal slit on the under surface of the body between 

 the pectoral fins; the gape being very wide, the teeth small, and the body scaled. 

 In these forms the muscular system is well developed; but in another genus (Sacco- 

 pharynx} it is extremely feeble, except on the head, and the bones are soft and 

 spongy. The head and gape are of immense size; the muzzle is short and flexible; 

 the weak jaws are armed with long, slender, curved teeth, placed at intervals; and 

 the gill openings are wide and situated on the lower part of the sides at some dis- 

 tance from the head, the narrow gills being free and exposed. The long and 

 band-like tail ends in a long tapering filament, and the dorsal and anal fins are rudi- 

 mental. As in the last genus, the stomach is capable of great distention, and 

 specimens which had swallowed fish of many times their own weight have been 

 found floating in the Atlantic with this organ dilated to its utmost. In a third 

 type (Nemichthys} , from depths between five hundred and two thousand fathoms 

 in the Atlantic, the exceedingly elongate body is band shaped, with the tail taper- 

 ing to a point, and the jaws produced into a long slender beak. 



It has been already noticed that in one of the deep-sea eels the gill 

 E . openings are confluent into a longitudinal slit on the under surface of 



the body; and a very similar condition characterizes the second family 

 (Syvnbranckidai} of eels, only in this case the slit is transverse. A better dis- 

 tinction is, however, afforded by the structure of the upper jaw, the margin of 

 which in the present family is formed entirely by the premaxillae, on the inner side 



