348 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



574. ANGTJILLA CHRYSYPA,* Rafinesque. 

 (AMERICAN EEL ; FRESH WATER EEL.) 



Distance from front of dorsal to vent 1^ to 2 in head ; pectoral 2f to 

 3| in head; head 2 to 2 in trunk. Form rather robust. Brown, nearly 

 plain, often tinged with yellowish ; paler below, the color extremely 

 variable. Length 4 or 5 feet. Atlantic coast of the United States; very 

 abundant from Maine to Mexico; ascending all rivers south of Canada 

 and east of the Rocky Mountains and resident throughout the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. Common in the West Indies. Not found in the Pacific. A 

 food-fish of importance, (^ptxrof, gold ; VTTO, below.) 



Anguttla chrysypa, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Month. Mag. & Grit. Rev., 1817, 120, Lake George ; Hud- 

 son River; Lake Champlain. 



Aiiguilla blephura, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Month. Mag. & Grit. Rev., 1817, 120, Long Island. 

 Anguilla laticauda, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Month. Mag. & Grit. Rev., 1817, 445, Ohio River. 

 Anguilla aterrima, RAFINESQUE, Ich. Ohiensis, 78, 1820, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. 

 Anguilla xanthomelas, RAFINESQUE, Ich. Ohiensis, 78, 1820, Ohio River. 

 Anguilla lutea, RAFINESQUE, Ich. Ohiensis, 78, 1820, Ohio River. 

 Mursena rostrata, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1821, 81, Cayuga Lake. 

 Mursena bostoniensis, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1821, 81, Boston. 

 Muriena serpentina, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1821, 82, Newport, Rhode Island. 

 Mursena macrocephqla, LE SUEUR, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1821, 82, Saratoga, New York. 

 Mureena argentea, LE SUEUR, Journ, Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1821, 82, Boston Bay. 

 Anguilla tenuirostris, DEKAY, Fishes N. Y., 310, 1842, New York. 

 Anguilla novseorleanensis, KAUP, Apodes, 43, fig. 33, 1856, New Orleans, Louisiana. 

 Anguilla punctaii?sima, KAUP, Apodes, 44, 1856, Niagara River. 

 Anguilla cubana, KAUP, Apodes, 44, 1856, Cuba. 



Anguilla novteterrse, KAUP, Apodes, 45, fig. 35, 1856, Newfoundland. 

 Anguilla texana, KAUP, Apodes, 45, fig. 36, 1856, Texas. 

 Anguilla wabashensis, KAUP, Apodes, 46, 1856, Wabash River. 

 Anguilla tyrannus, GIRARD, U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv., 75, 1859, Rio Grande. 

 Anguilla rostrata, DE KAY, Fishes N. Y., 312, 1842. 

 Mursena cubana, POEY, Synopsis, 421, 1868. 



Anguilla anguilla roslrala, MEEK, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., in, 1883, 430. 

 Anguilla chrysypa, JORDAN & DAVIS, Review of Apodal Fishes, 668, 1892. 



Family XLIV. SIMENCHELYIDJE. 

 (THE SNUB-NOSED EELS.) 



This family contains a single species, a large deep-sea eel, parasitic in 

 larger fishes, having the general characters of Anguilla, but with the 

 form of the head strikingly different. The following diagnosis is given 

 by Dr. Gill: 



Apodal fishes with a blunt snout, transverse, anterior mouth, massive 

 jaws with an acrodont dentition, and inferior longitudinal branchial slits 

 moderately far apart from each other. 



*Among the multitudes of American eels examined by us we have been unable to detect 

 specific differences. As all these specimens differ in a slight degree from any we have seen 

 from Europe, we may provisionally recognize the American form under its oldest name, Anguilla 

 chrysypa, as a distinct species. As these differences are slight, it is not unlikely that interme- 

 diate forms may occur, in which case the American form may stand as var. chryaypa. Dr. Bean 

 records in the "Nineteenth Report of the Commission of Fisheries of New York," page 280, 

 five individuals from Great South Bay, Long Island, which he thinks may represent Anguilla 

 argentea (Le Sueur). These specimens are described as having "large eyes, short snout, and 

 long pectoral fins as compared with the common form, silvery gray above with a clear satiny 

 white abdomen separated from the color above by the lateral line." These specimens are very 

 interesting because they were found "to be males with the generative glands so well developed 

 as to leave no doubt concerning the sex." 



