Jordan and Evermann, Pishes of North America. 541 



Family LXIX. AULOPID^E. 



Allied to the Synodontida', but with the maxillary separate, well devel- 

 oped, and dilated behind. Hypocoracoids extended downward as in many 

 spiny-rayed fishes. Gill rakers mostly long and slender, needle-shaped. 

 Eyes normal, large or small. No luminous spots ; jaws without fang-like 

 teeth. Dorsal fin moderate, nearly median in position, the body elongate. 

 Pectorals present, normal in form and position ; adipose fin normally 

 present. Pseudobranchiao present. This family as here understood 

 includes some half dozen species fishes of moderate depths, chiefly of 

 the Atlantic. 



a. Dorsal fin moderate, of less than 15 rays; teeth minute ; scales ctenoid; gill rakers very 

 slender. CHLOROPHTHALMUS, 251. 



251. CHLOROPHTHALMUS, Bonaparte. 



Chlorophthalmiis, BONAPARTE, Fauna Italica, fuse, xxvur, Tesci, 1840, (agassizii). 

 Uijplt,ilonedru* t GoODE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., ill, 1880, 483, (chalybeius). 



Head elongate ; body subterete, covered with moderate-sized, adherent, 

 pectinate, or ctenoid scales, which are arranged in straight, parallel, 

 oblique lines. Mouth rather large, the maxillary well developed, dilated 

 behind, reaching to beyond front of orbit j lower jaw projecting. Teeth 

 very small, sharp on jaws, vomer, and palatines, usually minute teeth on 

 tongue ; eye very large. Dorsal short, inserted before middle of length 

 of body ; adipose fin small j anal short ; caudal forked ; pectorals and 

 ventrals well developed, the ventrals inserted under dorsal and not far 

 behind pectorals, none of the rays forming exserted filaments. Gill open- 

 ings wide ; branchiostegals 10 ; pseudobranchiie well developed. Gill 

 rakers needle-shaped, rather numerous. Color silvery, with darker mark- 

 ings. Deep seas ; four species known, resembling smelt, (xhup'os , green ; 

 600a///6f, eye.) 



a. Eye 2 in head; scales 60 to 63. AGASSIZII, 818. 



aa. Eye 3 in head; scales 45 to 52. 



b. Dorsal rays 11; depth 6% in length. CHALYBEIUS, 819. 



bb. Dorsal rays 8; depth 5% in length. TRUCULENTUS, 820. 



818. CHLOROPHTHALMUS AGASSIZII, Bonaparte. 



Head 3i ; depth 5| ; eye very large, about 2 in head. D. 11 or 12 ; A. 9 ; 

 scales 60 to 63. Dorsal origin at i the distance from snout to base 

 of caudal rays, its height about equal to that of the ventral, 5 times in 

 total length ; anal insertion about f of distance from snout to base of 

 caudal ; ventral inserted under middle of dorsal ; pectorals reaching 

 nearly to middle of length of body. Color greenish bronze, with silvery 

 reflections. (Goode & Bean.) Atlantic and Mediterranean, rare about 

 Naples and Sicily. It also occurs at considerable depths in the eastern 

 Atlantic. The French expedition obtained it off the Azores in 720 

 fathoms, also in the Sargasso Sea, 202 fathoms, and off the Cape Verdes, 230 

 to 290 fathoms. The Albatross obtained specimens from various localities 

 in the Western Atlantic. (Named for Louis Agassiz, ichthyologist and 

 teacher, "the best friend that ever student had.") (Eu.) 

 Chlorophthalmus agassizii, BONAPAETE, Fauna Italica, pi. 121, 1840, Italy; GNTHER, Cat., v, 404, 



1864; GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyol., 60, 1895. 

 Aulopus agassizii, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xxn, 521, 1849. 



