Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 351 



moderate number (about 15), attached to the sides of the compressed cera- 

 tohyal and ephiyal, slender, abbreviated, and moderately bowed, not 

 being curved up above the operculuiu. Tongue long, free only at the sides. 

 Nostrils large, the anterior with a short tube, the posterior before the 

 lower part of the eye. Pectoral well developed ; dorsal low, beginning 

 behind vent; anal longer than dorsal, rather high, its rays slender, 

 branched, not imbedded in the skin ; vertical fins confluent around the 

 tail. Vent near the anterior fourth of body. Muscular and osseous sys- 

 tems well developed. Stomach very distensible. Deep-sea fishes ; two 

 genera with 6 or 8 species known. (Murcenidce, group Synaphobranchina, 

 Gunther, Cat., vm, 22-23.) 



o. Dorsal fin low, beginning behind vent ; vomerine teeth in a single patch ; pectorals long, 

 longer than the rather slender snout. SYNAPHOBHANCHUS, 153. 



aa. Dorsal fin beginning close behind base of pectorals ; vomerine teeth in two patches, one 

 behind the other ; pectorals short, not longer than the short snout. 



HlSTIOBRANCHUS, 154. 



153. SYNAPHOBRANCHUS, Johnson. 



Synaphobranchus, JOHNSON, Proc. Zobl. Soc. London, 1862, 169, (kaupii). 



Dorsal beginning behind vent. This genus contains two or three species, 

 deep-sea fishes from the Atlantic and Pacific. (avv&Qqg, united ; flpd-y^ia, 

 gills.) 



577. STNAPHOBRANCHUS PINNATUS (Gronow). 



Dorsal fin beginning J to i head's length behind vent ; maxillary reach- 

 ing a point almost opposite gill opening ; head 3 to 3| in distance from 

 tip of snout to dorsal, i to f in trunk ; snout 3 in head ; eye 2 to 2 in 

 snout; cleft of mouth 1| to If in head; pectorals 3 in head, their inser- 

 tion about equidistant from snout and anus. Uniform brown, vertical 

 fins darker behind, light- edged anteriorly ; inside of mouth blue-black; 

 gill openings dark. North Atlantic and western Pacific, common about 

 the Madeiras, Canaries, etc., and also about the banks of Newfoundland ; 

 "a common resident of the deep waters of the offshore banks in 200 to 

 300 fathoms, where individuals are often taken on the fisherman's trawl 

 lines." The Japanese species, S. affinis, Gunther, is probably the same. 

 (pinnalus, feathered or finned.) 



Mursena pinnata, GRONOW, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 19, 1854, locality unknown. 



Synaphobranchus kaupii, JOHNSON, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1862, 169, Madeira. (Coll. J. Y. John- 

 son.) 



? Synaphobranchus affinis, GVNTHER, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xx, 1877, 445, Inosima, Japan. 



Synaphobranchus pinnatus, GUNTHER, Cat., VIII, 23, 1870; GOODE & BEAN, Bull. Essex Inst., 2<i, 

 1879 ; BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 113 ; GOODE & BEAN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 222, 

 1883 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 364, 1883 ; GUNTHER, Voy. Challenger, xxn, 253, 1887 ; 

 VAILLANT, Voyage Travailleur et Talisman, 89, 1888 ; JORDAN & DAVIS, I. c., 672. 



154. HlSTIOBRANCHUS, Gill. 



Histiobranchus, GILL, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 255, (infernalis). 



This genus is close to the preceding, from which it is distinguished by 

 the more anterior insertion of its dorsal. Two species have been described, 



