Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2473 



Gill openings wide, extending below the base of the pectorals; the gill 

 membranes joined to isthmus for a distance equaling length of slit; gill 

 rakers very short, almost tubercular, but compressed and slightly mov- 

 able, about 15 present 011 anterior limb of outer arch ; a wide slit behind 

 fourth gill. Ventrals short, inserted under middle of opercle. Pectorals 

 deeply notched in both young and adults, the median rays much shorter 

 than either upper or lower, the lobe produced by the elongate lower rays 

 varying in length, being sometimes shorter than upper lobe, sometimes 

 longer; the rays of lower lobe are thickened, and undoubtedly serve as a 

 support to the fish when resting on the bottom, as has been observed in 

 so many other forms; the pectorals contain 20 or 21 rays; in the structure 

 of this fin the present species seems to differ from all previously described 

 forms, with the exception of L. esmarkii, in which the notched condition 

 of the fin does not persist in the adults. Scales small, embedded, cover- 

 ing entire body and vertical fins ; the scales on nape are much reduced in 

 size, and in 2 specimens (11| and 7| inches long) are continued onto occi- 

 put, which they entirely cover; in another specimen, 9 inches long, the 

 occiput is naked, and in another, 5 inches long, the anterior part of nape is 

 likewise naked ; in the latter, as in other specimens, the dorsal and anal 

 are well scaled. Lateral line single, wavy, ventral in position, extending 

 from above gill slit obliquely downward to near base of anal, along which 

 it is continued for a variable distance, not reaching base of caudal. Color 

 dusky brownish, blue-black on belly and along anterior portion of base of 

 anal ; 8 or 9 narrow white bars on sides, most conspicuous in the young, 

 in which they are continued up on dorsal fin and become forked below on 

 middle of sides, forming A-shaped marks ; in adults these bars become 

 faint or wholly disappear; when present, they are not continued on dor- 

 sal, and are usually vertically divided by a streak of the ground color ; 

 in the small specimen there is a distinct black blotch on margin of ante- 

 rior dorsal rays ; in adults, the vertical fins are brownish on basal portion, 

 their distal half black; pectorals and ventrals deep blue-black; mouth, 

 gill cavity, and peritoneum dusky or black. Several specimens, from Alba- 

 tross Stations 2892, 2896, 3067, and 3077, in depths from 82 to 376 fathoms, 

 off the coasts of California and Oregon. (Gilbert.) A remarkable spe- 

 cies, (did, divided; rtrepov, fin.) 



Lycodes diapterus, GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1891, 564, off the coast of Oregon, in 685 

 to 877 fathoms. (Type, No. 44385. Coll. Dr. Gilbert.) 



939. LYCODONUS, Goode & Bean. 



Lycodonus, GOODE & BEAN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., x, No. 5, 208, 1883 (mirabilis). 



Body elongate, formed as in Lycenchelys and Lyciscus; scales small, 

 circular, embedded in the skin; lateral line very short or obsolete; jaws 

 without fringes, lower jaw included; fin rays all articulated, each ray of 

 dorsal and anal supported laterally by a pair of sculptured scutes; caudal 

 distinct, not fully connate with dorsal and anal; ventrals present; gill 

 opening narrow ; teeth as in Lycodes. Deep water. (Lycodes, with a mean- 

 ingless change of termination.) 

 3030 78 



