Jordan and JEvermann. Fishes of North America. 595 



Subgenus ALEPISAURUS. 



889. ALEPISAURUS FEROX, Lowe. 



(LANCET FISH.) 



Eye 6 in head. D. 41 to 44 ; A. 14 to 17 ; P. 14 or 15 ; V. 9 or 10. 

 Length of head twice height of body, and rather less than \ of the total. 

 Eye median, as wide as the interorbital space. Dorsal fin much 

 elevated ; pectorals elongated, but not reaching nearly to ventrals ; first 

 ray of dorsal, pectoral, and ventral serrated ; upper caudal lobe produced 

 into a long filament. (Giinther.) Deep waters of the Atlantic; occa- 

 sionally obtained off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, and the 

 Grand Banks, (ferox, ferocious.) 



Alepisaurus ferox, LOWE, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., i, 1833, 395, Madeira; GUNTHEB, Cat., v, 421, 



1864; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 276, 1883. 

 Alepisaurus azureus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xxn, 530, 1849, Canaries. 



890. ALEPISAURUS .ESCULAPIUS* (Bean). 

 (SUBATKA ; WOLF-FISH.) 



Head 6; depth 10|; eye 5. D. 39; A. 16; P. 13; V. 8; B. 7. Vertebrae 

 50. Body stouter posteriorly than in A. ferox ; snout twice as long as 

 eye; premaxillary H in head, extending behind the eye a distance equal 

 to i eye. Median line with a well-marked fleshy keel from before ven- 

 trals to caudal. Longest dorsal ray 6 in body, -^ longer than head, its 

 anterior edge finely serrated (dorsal rays not perfect in type specimen). 

 Insertion of dorsal over gill opening and base of pectoral ; pectoral about 

 shorter than head ; ventral 2f in head, its first ray smooth. Dark 

 gray, sides silvery and iridescent, a row of small translucent spots on 

 each side of lateral line and keel ; dorsal black, with steel-blue reflections ; 

 adipose fin, pectorals, and caudal black ; ventrals and anal silver-gray. 

 Coast of Alaska, and southward to California, in deep water, occa- 

 sionally running on shore. (Bean.) The type specimen, speared at 

 Unalaska, by Robert King, had in its stomach 21 individuals of Eumicro- 

 tremus spinosus. It was probably driven ashore by the tortures of a 

 parasite (Tetrarhynchus) found in its flesh. Length over 3 feet. Another 



* A fine specimen of this species, four feet in length, came ashore on the coast of San Luis 

 Obispo County, California, in October, 1894, and was sent to the Museum of the California 

 Academy of Sciences by Mr. W. P. Stevens. 



Dorsal rays 38; ventral rays 9. Vertebrae about 35 + 20=55, the number not exactly counted. 

 Longest dorsal ray 1% in head; pc ctoral fins about 2; ventral fins 2% in head. Opercle as in 

 the Eureka specimen, with strongly marked radiating ridges. Suboperc'le with similar ridges, the 

 uppermost and strongest running to the upper posterior corner of the bone, the few above it short 

 and soon running out in the upper edge of the bone. Lower jaw strongly striated. Shoulder 

 girdle rugose. Gill rakers short, few, and small; strongly toothed. Pseudobranchia) well 

 developed. Eye 2% in snout. Upper jaw with a series of very small teeth along its entire edge. 

 Vomer with three enormous, dagger-like canines, arranged in a triangle, the median one in 

 advance; three canines on palatines on each side, turned a little backward; 8 small compressed 

 retrorse teeth behind them. Lower jaw with two large canines in front on each side; nine 

 small ones behind these; then 5 large compressed canines, smaller than those in front, which 

 in turn are smaller than those on palatines, which are smaller than those on vomer. Behind 

 these 5 canines are 15 smaller teeth, compressed, retrorse, like the teeth of a saw. Color blackish, 

 silvery below and on fin rays of lower fins. Dorsal mottled with darker. A description and 

 figure of this specimen has recently been published by Miss Flora Hartley. (Proc. Cal. Ac. 

 Sc\., 1895.) 



