Marine Fishes From Carolinas 63 



area by Wenner et al. (1979b, 1980). Four mottled cusk eels were col- 

 lected off Cape Fear, North Carolina (33 °06'N, 77°5TW, 67.7 m) by 

 trawl in an area of sand and live bottom on 11 November 1978 (230 

 mm, 249 mm, 258 mm, 270 mm; UF 30599). Our specimens were much 

 larger than the size (200 mm) given by Hoese and Moore (1977) and 

 generally larger than those (238 mm max.) examined by Robins (1960). 



HOLOCENTRIDAE 



Myripristis jacobus Cuvier. The blackbar soldierfish was reported 

 from tropical Atlantic waters of Florida, the Bahamas, the northern 

 Gulf of Mexico and through the Caribbean to Brazil (Hoese and Moore 

 1977). Dahlberg (1975) mentioned that this species occurs in deeper 

 waters off the Georgia coast and Powles and Barans (1980) reported one 

 specimen off Charleston, South Carolina. Two specimens, both gravid 

 females (91 and 99mm; UF 30598), were trawled off Cape Fear, North 

 Carolina (33°03'N, 78°02'W, 42 m) during the early morning hours of 

 27 June 1978. Their occurrence during darkness is not surprising, con- 

 sidering that holocentrids are nocturnal feeders, typically hiding under 

 ledges or in caves during the day (Randall 1968; Greenfield 1974). This 

 behavior would make them practically inaccessible to trawl capture dur- 

 ing daylight and may result in underestimations of their occurrence. 



Grammicolepidae 



Daramattus americanus (Nichols and Firth). The grammicolepid 

 fishes are generally deep sea, widely scattered, and rarely collected. 

 Worldwide there are five recognized species, but there is considerable 

 confusion concerning validity and relationships, particularly in the 

 genus Daramattus. Lack of specimens for study and lack of understand- 

 ing of the effects of allometric growth contribute to this confusion. 

 Smith (1960) described Daramattus, including two species: one new, D. 

 armatus, and one originally described as Xenolepidichthys americanus 

 by Nichols and Firth (1939). Only four specimens were known to Smith, 

 three of which seemed to be D. armatus from Japan (1) and South 

 Africa (2) and the fourth (D. americanus) from Georges Bank in the 

 Western Atlantic. One of the two South African specimens of D. arma- 

 tus was later redescribed as D. barnardi (Smith 1968). 



According to Hugh H. Dewitt (pers. comm.) the type of D. ameri- 

 canus has 13 gill rakers and 39 total dorsal elements, not 20 and 38, 

 respectively, as given by Nichols and Firth (1939). Considering this 

 change, our single specimen collected off North Carolina by trawl on 29 

 September 1979 at 33°32'N, 76°39'W, 232 m (56 mm; UF 30669) 

 seems referable to D. americanus. Meristic and morphometric data are 

 presented in Table 1. Fresh coloration was as follows: body generally 

 silvery, shading dorsally to a darker blue-gray; dark, spiny projections 



