70 
BULLETIN OE THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
patches of teeth on the en to pterygoids; body covered with large, caducous scales; first dorsal placed 
over the abdominal ventral fins; pectoral fins long, their inferior rays not thicker than the rest. 
( Goode & Bean. ) 
Neoscopelus Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soo. London 1863, 44 (macrolepidotus) . 
29. Neoscopelus alcocki Jordan & Starks. 
Head 3 in length; depth 4; D 13; A. 12; scales 4-33-4; eye 5 in head; snout 3.5; maxillary 2. 
Body rather robust, subfusiform; head rather pointed in profile, broad and somewhat depressed 
above; mouth large, oblique, maxillary extending to below posterior margin of orbit, not dilated 
behind, posterior border truncate; teeth small, in villiform bands; eye moderate, cheek broad, not 
oblique in position; scales large, entire, firm, roughened on the surface, nearly all fallen in specimen 
examined; lateral line well developed; luminous spots large, in about 6 rows on breast, about 14 in a 
lengthwise series from isthmus to ventrals, then a median and 2 lateral rows, to opposite front of 
anal, 10 spots in outer row, the posterior one smaller; an oblong circle of 10 small photophores about 
the vent; a row of 15 small photophores, continuous with inner lateral row before vent, from opposite 
vent to bass of caudal, most of the median members of this series double; there is also an inner series 
of minute white dots along base of anal rays; a median row of small photophores behind anal below 
caudal peduncle. Dorsal rather large, inserted before ventral, its longest rays about half head; longest 
anal ray 2.4 in head; caudal well forked; pectoral long, 1.1 in head; ventral long, 1.75; gillrakers long 
and slender, 3+12 in number. 
Color, pale or brownish above, belly black; a dusky shade at base of caudal and pectoral; inside of 
mouth black; luminous spots pale, with a dark ring. 
This species is very close to Neoscopelus macrolepidotus of the Atlantic. The sole important differ- 
ence apparently lies in the arrangement of the photophores on the posterior part of body. In the 
figures (Nos. 108 and 109) given by Goode & Bean (Oceanic Ichthyology), the arrangement is quite 
unlike that seen in the Japanese fish; the two lateral rows of spots found on the abdomen are repre- 
sented as continuous to the base of caudal. In the Japanese fish the outer row is not continued behind 
the front of anal. The inner lateral series is continued, the spots becoming smaller. There is a ring 
of little spots about the vent, and a series of little dots along base of anal. 
The species abundant about Hawaii, called Neoscopelus macrolepidotus by Gilbert & Cramer, seems 
to be the same as the Japanese fish. 
Neoscopelus macrolepidotus , Gilbert & Cramer, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIX, 1897 (Feb. 5), 414 (near Honolulu); not ol Johnson. 
Neoscojielus alcocki Jordan & Starks, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (August 13, 1904), 580, pi. 2, figs. 1 and 2, 
Albatross Station 3709 , Suruga Bay, Japan, in 173 to 260 fathoms. (Type, No. 51477, U. S. Nat. Mus.) 
Family XXI. MAUR0L1CID£. 
Body moderately elongate, compressed, scaleless; barbels none; margin of upper jaw formed by 
the maxillary and premaxillary, both of which are provided with teeth; opercular apparatus incom- 
plete; gill-opening very wide, the outer branchial arch extending forward to behind the symphysis of 
lower jaw; pseudobranchiae present; air-bladder none; adipose fin rudimentary; series of luminous 
photophores present along the lower side of head, tail, and body; a single dorsal fin without spines. 
(Goode & Bean.) Genera 4 or 5, with some 8 or 10 species. Deep-sea fishes, represented in the 
Hawaiian Islands by a single known species. 
Genus 35. ARGYRIPNUS Gilbert & Cramer. 
Body much compressed, oblong or elongate, passing gradually into the slender tail, covered with 
very thin, flexible, cycloid, deciduous scales; head longer than deep, without spines, its bones thin 
and flexible; maxillary sickle-shaped, with spatulate supplemental bone; eye large; dorsal fin on 
middle of back, without anterior spinous dilatation; a large (double) luminous organ on preopercle 
and series of equidistant organs on branchiostegals, isthmus, breast, abdomen, and lower part of side; 
a continuous series from above base of ventral fin to about end of anterior third of base of anal fin; 
a closely set series of 5 spots above middle of anal fin, and another series of 15 beginning above hinder 
end of anal and extending to anterior rudimentary rays of caudal. The single species of this genus 
( Argyripnus ephippiatus ) is fully described in Section II. 
Argyripnus Gilbert & Cramer, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIX, 414, 1897 (February 5, 1897) ( ephippiatus ). 
