Memoirs of the Indian Museum. 
[VoL. II, 
150 
Family STOMIATIDÆ:. 
Triplophos hemingi (MacArdle). 
Photichthys hemingi, MacArdle, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7), vol viii, page 521 (1901) ; 
Illustr. Zool. “ Investigator Fishes, plate xxxvi, fig. 2 (1905). 
B. 14, D. 10, A. 61, P. II, V. 9. 
“ Body black, covered with large deciduous scales. The length of the head is 
about one-seventh the length of the body without the caudal, and a little greater than 
the height of the body. The eyes are situated very near the anterior profile, about 
a diameter apart from one another, and are one-sixth the length of the head. There 
is a double row of small needle-like teeth in the upper jaw, and a single row of similar 
but smaller teeth in the mandible. A few small teeth in the palatines and vomer, 
but the latter has no fang. The surfaces of the mesopterygoids minutely denticulate. 
Gill-openings very wide. Four gills with short laminae and long setose gill-rakers on 
the first three arches. The dorsal fin is situated above the space between the ventral 
and anal fins. The latter is extremely long and terminates about an eye-length from 
the caudal. The pectoral and ventral fins are nearly in the same plane, and the 
latter are almost midway between the former and the beginning of the anal fin. On 
the two specimens, one of which is very much damaged and the other by no means 
perfect, no adipose dorsal fin can be made out. The back is scaly and is not rugose. 
The luminous organs, which show up a dull opaque white against the dark back- 
ground, may be grouped as follows : — 
(1) One between the bases of all the branchiostegal rays. 
(2) Sixteen between the symphysis of the jaw and the pectoral fins. 
(3) Eight between the pectoral and the ventral fins. 
(4) Five between the ventral and the anal fins. 
(5) Thirty-five or thirty-six distributed along the bases of the anal rays. 
The last four groups may be taken as forming the lowest lateral row. 
(6) and (7) A second and a third lateral row join about the ventral fins, and 
run as a single row of spots to near the caudal fin. 
(8) A fourth row, not so distinct as the others, runs from behind the head 
to near the termination of the anal fin. 
There are two glands on the head, one at the anterior angle of, and the other 
behind, the orbit. 
Length 6 — 8 inches. Two specimens from the Bay of Bengal, 475 and 859 — 880 
fathoms. 
This fish bears several points of resemblance to Gonostoma maderense (Johnson, 
Proc. Zool. Soc., 1890, p. 458), notably in the absence of fangs on the vomer and of an 
adipose dorsal fin ; but in other respects it appears like a true Photichthys. It differs 
from G. maderense in having scales on the back and none ^ on the cheek, and in having 
but a single row of teeth in the anterior portion of the lower jaw. It is quite 
