OCR Text |
Show 142 PROF. COLLETT ON A NEW PEDICULATE FISH. [Mar. 2, skin, a continuation of that of the body. It is directed backwards, and the point of the fin extends a little beyond the root of the caudal fin (about an eye's length). The anal fin is much like the second dorsal, and is placed right beneath it; it has two rays, which also are single. The caudal fin consists of nine rays, four in the upper, five in the lower half. Of these the outermost are somewhat shorter than the middle ones ; thus the fin is somewhat pointed. The four middle rays are bifid from below the centre; the others are simple. The ventral fins are wanting. The pectorals are small and rounded; the pseudobrachia very short. On the right side there are 14, on the left side 15 rays, most of which are simple, and only the middle ones seem to be bifid at the ends. The length of the pectoral (including the pseudobrachium) is only 5 millim., or the length of the bulb of the cephalic spine. The guttural tentacle is nearly 2>\ times as long as the tentacle on the snout (23 millim.), or has about the same length as the distance from the front of the eye to the root of the tail. It is placed on the throat, at a distance from the symphysis about equal to half the length of the jaw. It is thinner than the cephalic spine, and divides itself at the end into two short pointed blades, the length of each being 6 millim. Whilst the tentacle otherwise is black, the inner edges of these blades are white, like the upper half of the snout tentacle, and are furnished with a row of round papillae, about 30 on each, resembling a chain of pearls. These small bodies undoubtedly have a use, either as organs of sense or as the source of the phosphorescent lightl. The abdominal cavity is greatly distended, somewhat flattened underneath, which is in consequence of the position the swallowed fish has taken up. This fish, which undoubtedly is a Scopeloid, has a length of about 70 millim., and is therefore not far from being half a length longer than the specimen itself. It lies with the head and the caudal fin bent backwards and the belly turned down. Anus. Its position cannot be given with certainty. The skin is smooth throughout, and covers all the spines on the head as well as the teeth. Lateral line or mucous glands cannot be detected. The colour everywhere is jet-black, with the exception of the upper half of the bulb of the tentacle on the snout, and the inner margins of the ends of the guttural tentacle, which (in the preserved specimen) are white, but which in the living fish have probably been silvery and phosphorescent. The fin-rays are also black, the membrane blackish. The mouth is also black, as well as the covering of the teeth. 1 A similar phosphorescent guttural tentacle is mentioned in Eustomias obscurus, captured from enormous depths during the voyage of the ' Talisman ' ('La Nature,' 1884, p. 184; Day, 'Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland,' p. xxvii). |