I 
124 
-""Saude rOT, (P§ar!r7T 
■ Family SERPIDAE 
Body elongate, subterete. Head moderate or small. Mouth very small, 
terminal, Teeth small, chiefly in lower jaw and on vomer. Gill membranes 
separate. Branchiostegals reduced to 3 or 4. B orsa i fi n short, posterior. 
Adipose fin present. Centrals behind middle of body. 
Genus SERPE Risso . 
Serpe (BLOCH) RISSO, Ichth. Nice, 1810, p.356. Type Serpe microstoma RISSO, 
monotypic. 
Microstoma CUVIER, Regne Animal, vol. 2, 1917, p.184. Type Serpe microstoma 
RISSO, monotypic. 
Body cylindrical. Bye very large. Mouth cleft very small. Maxillaries 
very short, broad. Harrow series of fine, small teeth in lower jaw and across 
* 
head of vomer. No other teeth. Pseudobranchae well developed. Air vessel 
large. Mucous membrane of stomach with numerous large papillae. No pyloric 
appendages. B 0( jy covered with large, thin, silvery scales. Beales extend 
over central caudal rays. B orsa i fin short, inserted behind ventrals, before 
anal. Adipose fin present in most young examples, frequently absent with 
age, small, narrow, end fringed or lacerated. Caudal forked. 
Marine fishes of the deeper Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
Submenus SERPE Risso 
