BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
98 
54. Gymnothorax berndti Snyder. Plate 15, fig. 2. • 
Head, measured to gill-opening, 6.7 in length, 3.8 in tail; depth 1.8 in head; snout 5; cleft of 
mouth 2. Profile, a gently sloping straight line between tip of snout and posterior part of interorbital 
space, whence it abruptly curves upward over the greatly swollen occipital region; snout slender 
and pointed; lower jaw projecting slightly beyond upper; mouth closing completely; teeth in a single 
series in each jaw, large, smooth-edged, close set, firmly embedded, the anterior ones somewhat longer 
than the others; median canines absent; 5 small teeth on the vomer; nostril tubes equal in height 
to diameter of pupil; posterior nostrils without rims, located above and just posterior to border of 
eye; orbit round; width of space between eyes equal to half the distance between tip of snout and 
center of pupil; gill-opening located on a level with eye, the slit equal in width to diameter of eye; 
origin of dorsal on a vertical midway between gill-opening and corner of mouth, fin membrane thick 
and fleshy; height of fin near middle of tail equal to half the length of snout; anal inserted imme¬ 
diately behind vent, appearing as a ridge of skin, the highest part about 1.7 in eye; length of caudal 
equal to vertical diameter of eye. 
Color gray, with fine brown reticulations over which is a coarse network of brown bands. 
Color in alcohol, white, tinged with brown, more clear along the upper lip, on lower jaw, and on 
belly; finely clouded and reticulated with brown, except on jaws and anal fin, all overlaid with a 
brown-colored, coarse network of rather broad bands, the meshes becoming finer on head and broken 
up into elongate, crooked spots on jaws; gill-opening brown; dorsal with oblique bars which connect 
with reticulations of body; anal blackish brown, with a broad, white border. 
This description is of the type, No. 50867, U. S. Nat. Mus., an example 37 inches long, obtained 
in the Honolulu market through the kindness of Mr. E. Louis Berndt. Two other specimens of about 
the same size were likewise obtained. One has the fine reticulations less distinct than those of the 
type and the bands of the coarse ones a little narrower, about equal to width of pupil. The snout 
measures 4.2 in head; jaws equal. The other, a female, 31 inches long (cotype, No. 12791, L. S. Jr. 
Univ. Mus.), when compared with the type, has a more slender head, the occipital region being less 
swollen. The color is similar, except that the bands of the large reticulations are narrower and the 
dorsal is conspicuously, though narrowly, edged with white. There are 2 large, depressible fangs in 
the anterior median portion of the upper jaw. 
<!. berndti may be distinguished from all other Hawaiian eels by the broad brown reticulations on 
the body. Named for Mr. E. Louis Berndt, the efficient inspector of fisheries at Honolulu. 
QymnatharaxHfrndtt Snyder, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Jan. 19, 1904), 518, pi. 4, tig. 8, Honolulu. 
55. Gymnothorax undulatus ( Laeepede). “ I’uki laumili.” Plate 16. 
Head 2 in trunk; head and trunk a little shorter than tail; eye 2.3 in snout, 1.5 in interorbital 
space; snout 5.67 in head; mouth 2 and an eye diameter in head. 
Body compressed; tail tapering gradually, greatly compressed posteriorly; head compressed and 
swollen; snout elongate, the tip bluntly pointed and not projecting beyond mandible; jaws even; eye 
rather small, superior and nearer tip of snout than corner of mouth; mouth horizontal, closing, 
the thick lips completely concealing teeth; teeth large, uniserial, many of them more or less canine¬ 
like, those along the sides directed backward; vomerine teeth in a single series, large, fang-like 
depressible; anterior nostrils in short fleshy tubes, the posterior pair directly above eyes in front, 
interorbital space convex, the forehead rising rather abruptly behind; gill-openings a little shorter 
than eye; skin very rough, with many fine wrinkles; branchial region of head with many rather deep 
longitudinal folds or wrinkles; dorsal beginning much nearer corner of mouth than gill-opening; 
caudal roundly pointed. 
Color in alcohol, deep purple, brown or blackish, speckled, spotted and reticulated with whitish; 
often very variable. 
Here described from an example (No. 04802) 35 inches long, from Honolulu. This is one of the 
most abundant eels occurring among the Hawaiian Islands and is also very numerous at Samoa. Our 
collection contains more than 40 specimens, all from Honolulu except one dredged by the Albatross 
at station 3824, off the southern coast of Molokai, in 222 to 498 fathoms. The specimens range in 
length from 10 to 36 inches, the majority of them exceeding 20 inches. 
