Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2493 



Islands, in deep water. Only the type known, an example 4 inches long. 

 (dspf.ia, skin; dermatinus, skinny.) 



Lycodapus dermatinus, GILBERT, Kept. U. S. Fish Comm. 1893 (1896), 471, pi. 35, Aleutian 

 Islands, lat. 37 54' 10" N., long. 123 30' W., at Albatross Station 3162, in 552 fathoms. 



2864. LYCODAPTJS FIERASFEB, Gilbert. 



Head 5i ; depth 10; eye 4| in head; snout 3i; maxillary 2 to 2|. D. 82; 

 A. 70. Body compressed, elongate, tapering rather rapidly backward, the 

 tail not produced to a filament; head flat above, the cheeks deep, vertical, 

 the mouth very oblique, with the lower jaw slightly the longer and nearly 

 entering the upper profile; skull very thin and papery, translucent; jaws 

 weak; gape of mouth wide, the maxillary reaching vertical from behind 

 front of pupil; teeth all smallj in a very narrow band in jaws, in a 

 single series on vomer and palatines ; interorbital width f of eye ; snout 

 broad, depressed, spatulate, its tip prominent, turned upward, the upper 

 profile thus longitudinally concave; an evident median ridge on snout and 

 interorbital space; gill slits continued forward below to vertical from 

 middle of eye, the membranes united for a distance equaling diameter of 

 pupil; gill rakers short, less tnan diameter of pupil, strongly toothed, 

 about 10 on horizontal limb of arch; head without conspicuous mucous 

 pores or cavities. Dorsal beginning well forward, its distance from occi- 

 put slightly less than that from occiput to nostril. Dorsal and anal rays 

 slender, all articulated, branched only at tips; caudal not distinct, the 

 rays springing from end of tail not projecting beyond the others; origin 

 of anal immediately behind vent, its distance from snout nearly equal- 

 ing total length; pectorals narrow, varying in length, about 2 in head. 

 Body and fins invested in a rather lax transparent skin, without traces 

 of scales. Color, body translucent, dusted with black specks; abdomen 

 blackish; lips, inside of mouth, lining of gill cavity, and peritoneum jet- 

 black; iris silvery. (Gilbert.) North Pacific. The types, several speci- 

 mens, the longest 5i inches, from Albatross Stations 2980, 3010, 3072, off 

 Lower California, in 610 to 1,005 fathoms. Also taken near Unalaska in 

 109 fathoms. (Fierasfer, the pearlfish.) 



Lycodapus fierasfer, GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1890, 108, off Lower California, in 610 

 to 1,005 fathoms (Coll. Dr. Gilbert) ; JORDAN, Proc. Gal. Ac. Sci. 1896, 234, pi. 23. 



2865. LYCODAPUS PARVICEPS, Gilbert. 



Head7f; depth 11; eye 4| in head ; snout 3i; least interorbital width 5 ; 

 maxillary 2; pectoral 2f. D. 100; A. about 85 (both counted to middle 

 of caudal) ; P. 9; no ventrals. Upper profile of head nearly straight, not 

 longitudinally concave as in L. fierasfer; head deeper and narrower, the 

 snout less spatulate ; skin thicker. A conspicuous series of pores on man- 

 dible and along preopercular margin; gill slit very oblique, extending 

 anteriorly as far as vertical from eye, the membranes then narrowly united, 

 free from the isthmus except at extreme front ; gill slit superiorly much 

 more restricted than in L. fierasfer, not extending above base of pectorals, 

 while in the latter it extends above them for diameter of eye. Mouth 



