XXII APODES 603 



its capture. Eels are extremely voracious, and endowed with an 

 extraordinary tenacity of life ; they can live for many hours out 

 of the water, and are often met with at night creeping through 

 the grass of meadows from one pond or stream to another. 



One of the most remarkable among the deep-sea Eels is the 

 Snub-nosed Eel {Simenclielys parasiticus), which has been found 

 in great numbers off Newfoundland and the Azores, at depths of 

 200 to 900 fathoms. The maxillary and mandibular bones are 

 very short and massive, provided with large obtuse teeth ; the 

 head is short and bulldog-like in aspect, the mouth small and 

 bordered by a thick circular lip. Some specimens have been 

 observed to burrow in the muscles of living Halibut and other 

 large Fishes, after the manner of Myxine. 



Fam. 2. Nemichthyidae. — Distinguished from the preceding 

 by the position of the vent, which is close to, or at no great 

 distance from, the gill-openings. The rays of the vertical fins 

 are connected by thin membrane instead of being imbedded in 

 thick skin, as in most Eels ; in some of the genera the jaws are 

 excessively prolonged, needle-like, sometimes recurved. Deep-sea 

 Eels of small size, represented in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian 

 Oceans by about 10 species, referred to 6 genera: JDysomma, 

 Dysommatopsis, Nemichthys, Spinivomer , Serrivomer, Gavialiceps. 



Fam. 3. Synaphobranchidae. — Maxillaries narrowly separated 

 on the median line, their extremity strongly attached by ligament 

 to the mandible ; pterygo-palatine arch absent. Gill-openings 

 externally confluent into a single ventral slit. Deep-sea Fishes, 

 resembling the true Eels in the general form and in the pres- 

 ence of linear scales placed at right angles, but differing in the 

 absence of the pterygo-palatine arch, as in the Saccopharyngidae. 

 Eight species of Synaphobranchus are known, from the Atlantic, 

 Pacific, and Indian Oceans, at depths of 200 to 2000 fathoms. 



Fam. 4. Saccopharyngidae. — Maxillaries narrowly separated 

 on the median line, extremely elongate ; mouth enormous ; 

 pterygo-palatine arch absent ; hyomandibular arch slender and 

 movably articulated to the cranium, the two bones (hyomandi- 

 bular and quadrate) of which it is composed being capable of 

 being swung in all directions ; branchial arches far behind the 

 skull ; no branchiostegal rays or pharyngeal bones. 



Extraordinary-looking deep-sea Fishes allied to the Eels, of 

 which they appear to be a further degraded type, the muscles 



