XIII. Description of a Specimen q/' Schedophilus medusophagus, a Fish new to the 

 British Fauna. By Dr. Albert Gunther, F.B.S., V.P.Z.S. 



Beceived June 21st, read June 21st, 1881. 



[Plate XLVIL] 



In May last I received from my valued correspondent Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby a fish 

 preserved in spirits, with the following notes : — 



" The fish was obtained during the second week of August 1878, in a salmon-net, at 

 Portrush, co. Antrim, and came at once into my hands, none of the fishermen engaged 

 in the fishery having previously met with any thing similar to it. It was the most 

 delicate adult fish I ever handled — so much so that, within twenty-four hours of its 

 capture, the skin of the belly with the intestines fell ofl" when it was lifted, and it felt 

 in the hand quite soft and boneless. Its stomach contained herring-fry. I may 

 mention that a few days subsequently to above date I got a fine specimen of a Tunny, 

 also at Portrush." 



The fish proved to be a fine example of Schedophilus medusophagus, Cocco, a genus 

 which, as far as is known, has not been previously met with near the British coast. 



Originally described from specimens obtained in the Mediterranean, the species was 

 afterwards found in the open Atlantic', and quite recently in the South Sea^ near 

 Samoa. It is evidently a pelagic form which, at least in the adult state, descends to 

 some depth. The want of firmness in the tissues, well described by Mr. Ogilby, seems 

 clearly to indicate it as a deep-sea fish. But we have no evidence as to the exact 

 depth to which it may descend, which probably does not exceed a hundred fathoms. 



As in other deep-sea fishes, the young of this species are more frequently found near 

 the surface than the adult, which are very rare. They accompany floating objects, 

 chiefly for real or fancied protection, or for the sake of animalcules which congregate 

 round every object floating on the surface of the sea; this is what induces these little 

 fish to follow Medusae. The idea expressed by the specific name of our fish, viz. that 

 it follows Medusee in order to feed on them, cannot be correct, as the fish could draw 

 but little nourishment from those animals. The specimen obtained by Mr. Ogilby 

 probably followed one of the shoals of fry of Clupeoids which annually travel from 

 the open sea towards our coasts, and are followed by a number of southern fish which 

 prey upon them and in their turn are pursued by larger pelagic fishes such as Tunnies 

 and other Scombroids. 



' Gunth. Fish. ii. p. 412 ; Lutken, Yid. Selsk. Skr. 1880, p. 525. 

 " Gunth. Fisch. d. Siidsee, p. l-t9. 



VOL. XI. — PART VII. No. 2. — October, J 882. 2u 



