976 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



1374. TETRAGONURUS CUYIERI, Risso. 

 (ESCOLAR DE NATUBA ; COURPATA ; SQUARE TAIL ; SEA-RAVEN.) 



Head 4J ; depth 7 ; eye about 3. D. XV-11 ; A. II, 9 ; V. I, 5 ; scales 

 90. Body fusiform, not compressed, plump and compact, the tail becoming 

 distinctly four-angled; at base of caudal these four equidistant angles 

 rise suddenly into four short, elevated, lacerato-serrate crests or ridges 

 of produced toothed scales, these serrate keels meeting in the fork of 

 the fin, the keels as long as eye. Belly underneath round, with a fine, 

 closed groove from ventral fins to vent; a similar groove behind anal. 

 Head broad above ; eye very large ; snout short, truncate, as long as eye ; 

 jaws equal ; maxillary slipping below preorbital ; gape moderate, reach- 

 ing front of eye; lower jaw with very high gums, shutting within upper 

 jaw like a trunk within its lid; teeth bony, white, and glassy, in one 

 row in each jaw, arranged like comb teeth; lower teeth larger, about 40 

 in each side of each jaw, the teeth of lower jaw larger backward ; upper 

 teeth subconic, lower compressed, lancet-like ; vomer and palatines with 

 small teeth ; gill openings very large, the membranes connected below, 

 free from isthmus ; pectorals short, rather low ; ventrals small, ovate, 

 rather behind pectorals, fitting into a hollow of the belly. Dorsal inserted 

 behind ventrals, of 15 low pungent spines depressible in a groove ; soft 

 dorsal short, scaleless, not in a groove ; anal similar, shorter, its first two 

 rays small and simple ; caudal broad, rather short, well forked, its rays 

 feeble, much articulate. Whole body covered with a hard and com- 

 pact armor of close-set scales in 83 regular oblique spiral rings, those 

 on tail smaller. These scales are so firmly fixed that they can 

 be torn off in spiral belts. Their edges are striate and finely ciliate, 

 the striae being also rough. Lateral line nearly straight ; head mostly 

 scaly; the surface everywhere rough. Color uniform rusty black, the 

 edges of the scales hyaline ; inside of mouth blackish. Length 1 foot. 

 (Esophagus with soft papillae ; stomach a long conic sac ; cceca numerous, 

 unequal; vertebrae 36 + 22 = 58. (Lowe.) Open Atlantic, once taken 

 off our Atlantic Coast. Originally described from Nice. Risso says 

 that it lives at great depths, approaching the coast only in August at the 

 time of spawning, and that its natation is slow and feeble. It has since 

 been found off Toulon and Marseilles, and by Lowe near Madeira, where 

 it was taken swimming at the surface. Lowe is also of the opinion that 

 it occurs at very great depths. Its flesh is white and tender, but at times 

 when eaten it is a violent poison, as was demonstrated by the personal 

 experience of Risso himself. This Risso thinks may be due to the poison- 

 ous jelly fishes on which it feeds. A single specimen was obtained by 

 the United States Fish Commission at Woods Hole, November 10, 1890 

 (No. 44436, U. S. Nat. Mus.). (Goode & Bean.) (Named for Georges 

 Chretien Leopold Dagobert Cuvier, 1769-1832, the great comparative 

 anatomist, who laid the foundations of modern ichthyology.) (Eu.) 



Tetragonurus cuvieri, Risso, Ichth. Nice, 347, 1810, Nice; GUNTHER, Cat., m, 408, 1861; GOODE 



& BEAN, Oceanic Ichth., 230, fig. 417, 1895. 

 Tetragonurus atlanticw, LOWE, Fishes Madeira, 129, pi. xix, 1843, Madeira. 



