76 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
(b) Adult forms. 
Echelus Rafinesque, Caratteri, etc., 63, 1810 (in part; includes species of Conger , Ophisoma, and Myrus; restricted by Bleeker 
to Myrus). 
Conger Cuvier, Regne Animal (2d ed. McMurtries’s), II, 257, 1831 (conger). 
Ariosoma Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class’n Pishes, I, 220, 1838 (no type mentioned; diagnosis worthless). 
Ophisoma Swainson, Nat. Hist. Class’n Fishes, II, 331, 1839 (acuta). Substitute for Ariosoma; not Ophisomus Swainson, 
Nat. Hist. Class’n Fishes, II, 277, 183$, = Pholis Scapoli. 
Congrus Richardson, Voyage Erebus and Terror, 107, 1844 (conger). 
Gnathopliis Kaup, Aale Fische Hamburg Mus., 7, in Abhand. Natur. Verein Hamburg, IV, 1858-1866. 
30. Leptocephalus marginatus (Valenciennes). “Puhiuha.” 
Head 2 in trunk; head and trunk about 1.67 in tail; eye 2 in snout, 1.67 in interorbital space; 
snout about 3.75 in head; interorbital space a little over 5; mouth about 2.3; pectoral 2.67. 
Body more or less rounded, the tail posteriorly tapering and compressed; head rather long, 
depressed, and pointed; snout pointed, depressed above, and projecting beyond the mandible; eye 
small, anterior; mouth rather large, extending posteriorly slightly beyond eye; lips thick, fleshy, and 
broad ; teeth blunt, rather short, more or less cylindrical, a patch on vomer and front of mouth above, 
a small patch on each side of the symphysis of mandible, those along the jaws forming a cutting edge; 
tongue large, thick, and free in front; anterior nostrils in short tubes near tip of snout, the posterior 
situated very near upper front margin of eye; interorbital space elevated convexlyand flattened in the 
middle; sides of head rather swollen; gill-openings rather large; peritoneum silvery; skin perfectly 
smooth; head with a number of mucous pores; lateral line well developed and continuous, the pores 
about 120; origin of dorsal beginning over the first third of pectoral, its height greater than that of 
anal; margin of caudal rounded, its length about equal to snout and half of eye; pectoral more or less 
rounded, the rays just above the middle the longest. In life the young has traces of obscure crossbars. 
Color in alcohol, dark lucid brown above and on the vertical fins, which are margined with black; 
lower surface of body pale or whitish, more or less soiled with pale brown; a dark blackish brown 
streak from lower margin of eye above and behind the corner of mouth; pectorals brown, their lower 
margins whitish, the upper portions of their extremities with a black blotch, which is always distinct. 
The above description is based on a specimen 39 inches long (No. 03759) from Hilo. Three other 
specimens (Nos. 03758, 03359, and 03760), 30, 24, and 30 inches long, respectively, are in the collec- 
tions from Hilo, and 2 specimens (Nos. 03713 and 03727), 24 and 38 inches long, respectively, were 
obtained at Kailua. Young individuals have traces of obscure cross-bands. An example from Hiler 
showed the pectoral in life with a large blotch, edged with white. In the collection made by Dr. 
Jenkins are 4 specimens, 19 to 25 inches long. We have one larva, probably of this or some species of 
Leptoceplialus, obtained at Hilo. It is about 2 inches long, and can not be certainly identified. 
The species is rather abundant about lava rocks, and is common at Samoa. The native Hawaiian 
name, puhi uha, signifies slippery eel. 
Conger m arginatus Valenciennes, Voy. Bonite, Poiss., 201, pi. 9, fig. 1, 1841, Sandwich Islands; Gunther, Shore Fishes, 
Challenger, Zool., I, part VI, 61, 1880 (Reefs at Honolulu); Steindachner, Denks. Ak. Wiss. Wien, LXX, 1900, 514 
(Laysan). 
Conger altipinnis Kaup, Wiegm. Arch., XXII, 1856, 72, Bourbon. 
Conger noordzieki Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sei. lnd. Neerl., Amboyna, II, 1857, 86, East Indies. 
Leptoceplialus marginatus, Jenkins, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 421 (Honolulu); Snyder, op. cit. 
(Jan. 19, 1904), 515 (Honolulu; Hanalei Bay, Kauai). 
Genus 44. CONGRELLUS Ogilby. 
Dorsal fin inserted more anteriorly than in Leptoceplialus, over the gill-opening or anterior part 
of pectoral; head with muciferous cavities, more or less conspicuous; mouth rather small; teeth all 
pointed; body more robust than in Leptoceplialus, the tail not much, if any, longer than rest of body, 
its tip white in Japanese species; dorsal and anal edged with black. The genus is not very different 
from Leptoceplialus, the species megastomus being almost exactly intermediate. 
Congrellus Ogilby in Jordan & Evermann, Fishes North and Mid. Amer., HI, 2801, 1898 (November 26) ( balearica ). 
a. Snout not longer than eye, rounded, projecting slightly beyond tip of lower jaw; lips thick; gill-openings less than 
eye; origin of dorsal in front of base of pectoral bowersi, p. 77 
aa. Snout longer than eye, flat, projecting considerably beyond tip of lower jaw; lips thin; gill-openings a little greater 
than eye; origin of dorsal slightly behind base of pectoral eequoreus , p. 77 
