Japanese Gempylidae — Matsubara and IwAl 
209 
nnnnnnnnnn 
mm 
Fig. 12. Outer side of first gill arch in Nealotus 
tripes. A, region near angle on right side; B, middle 
portion of lower branch on right side. Drawn by 
authors. 
and membranes of caudal dark brown; other 
fins entirely pale. After preservation, head and 
body somewhat paler. Buccal and branchial 
cavities and peritoneum jet-black. 
REMARKS: In our specimen a minute spine 
can be seen with the aid of a lens immediately 
behind the dagger-shaped spine in front of 
the anal fin. This spine has hitherto been 
overlooked. A spine preceding the soft dorsal 
and the anal has been misinterpreted as a soft 
ray by most earlier authors. Our specimen 
differs from the type description of this 
species in having a deeper body, a longer 
snout, and fewer dorsal and anal soft rays 
(the type was described as having depth 9V2 
in total length, eye V-A in snout, dorsal XXI, 
19+2, and anal 18+2). Gunther’s specimen 
was only 33 mm. long and naturally differs 
in many points from our adult female. Our 
specimen is the size of Smith and Pope’s 
specimen but has smaller eyes and fewer dor- 
sal and anal soft rays (eye 1.6 in snout and 
4.3 in head, dorsal XXI, 19+2 and anal 
I, 18+3 in the latter). In general our specimen 
agrees well with Norman’s description, ex- 
cept in having a deeper body, a larger head, 
and smaller eyes (depth 8 to &A in length of 
body, head nearly 4 in length of body, and 
eye 414 to 414 in length of head, according to 
Norman) . 
Not having examined specimens of this 
species, Tanaka and Kamohara both synony- 
mized it with Promethichthys prometheus with- 
out giving any sound basis for their action. 
This species is sharply distinguished from 
Promethichthys prometheus, not only in the 
generic characters indicated above and in the 
key, but also by having a greater number of 
spines in the first dorsal (20 or 21 instead of 
18), by the more posterior position of the 
ventral spine (inserted below middle of base 
of pectoral fin instead of ahead of anterior end 
thereof), and by detailed characters of the 
gill rakers on the first arch (the bony part of 
the gill arch is armed with minute accessory 
rakers interpolated between pairs of larger 
ones, instead of being rather thickly covered 
with many small accessory rakers, and the 
raker at the angle is very long, with some- 
what more than half, instead of about one 
third, of its entire length exposed). 
t Promethichthys Gill 
Promethichthys (1893: 115, 123 — type Pro- 
metheus atlanticus 1.0^ Q = Gempylus prome- 
theus Cuvier). 
Promethichthys prometheus (Cuvier) 
Figs. 1C, 2B, 5E, lOB-C 
MATERIAL DESCRIBED: No. 4101, 185 mm. 
in standard length (211.5 mm. in total length) , 
off Owase, Kumano-Nada, January, 1937; 
No. 1551, 261.5 mm. (311 mm,), Ensyu- 
Nada; Nos. 11932 and 11933, 215.5 and 
197 mm. (258.5 and 235 mm.), off Kochi 
City, January, 1950. 
Fangs on upper jaw near tip of snout 4 to 
6, of which 3 are immovable and the others 
depressible. Scales small and definitely im- 
bricate, evident over entire body and head 
except on snout, jaws, throat, and interorbital. 
