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Publication of this paper has been assisted by a grant from the Victoria University Publications Fund. Material described here was collected with the aid of a grant for the investigation of the deep-water fauna of Cook Strait from the University of New Zealand Grants Committee.
New records are Borodinula gilli (Bean), Borodinula infans (Günther), Serrivomer samoensis Bauchot, Simenchelys parasiticus Gill, Synaphobranchus affinis Günther and Diastobranchus capensis Barnard, which are described. Diastobranchus danae (Bruun) is a synonym of D. capensis. Borodinula gilli is osteologically more closely similar to B. bowersii (Garman), also from the Pacific, than it is to other species of the genus.
The recorded apodal fauna of New Zealand waters is not large. Griffin (Nemichthys scolopaceus Richardson, Diastobranchus danae (Bruun, Serrivomer bertini Bauchot, Dana
The extensive feeding grounds on the continental slope around New Zealand and the wide areas of temperate seas with their rich plankton would be expected to support an abundant and diverse benthic and bathypelagic deep-sea eel fauna. The known deep-water eel fauna as indicated above is yet small and is the result of the limited collections to date. This is demonstrated by the results reported here from sporadic collections made in the one area of Cook Strait over a short period of time.
During two of the years,
The Apodes represent perhaps one of the most specialised orders of teleost fishes, a specialisation of external morphology, osteology and life history. Other groups of teleosts have developed the eel-like form of the body, but few have the simplified
The eels which form the basis of this account represent the major part of the apodal material collected from east of Cook Strait by the Department of Zoology, Victoria University of Wellington, and from near Kaikoura by Mr. R. Baxter, a commercial fisherman, during the years
Skeletal material was prepared and studied by dissection, maceration, alizarin-stained whole mounts, or wherever possible, by X-ray photography. Measurements of specimens were made to the nearest millimetre by dividers; drawings were made directly from the specimen in the case of larger structures and by a standard camera lucida in the case of scales and small skeletal structures. Proportional measurements ore given as follows: Total length: snout tip to extremity of caudal fin; standard length: snout tip to distal end of upper hypural; head: snout tip to posterior margin of opercular membrane; snout: snout tip to anterior margin of eye; eye: horizontal diameter; interorbital: least fleshy space between the dorsal margins of the eyes; postorbital: posterior margin of eye to anterior extremity of pectoral base; cleft of mouth: snout tip to angle of mouth when open; predorsal: snout tip to origin of dorsal fin; preanal: snout tip to origin of anal; depth: maximum depth of body, unless where stated; branchial interspace: distance between ventral or posterior extremities; pectoral: anterior extremity of base to tip of fin when held against body. Vertebrae were counted to include the terminal element bearing the hypurals.
The faunal areas of the ocean are given as in Grey (
Coll., Collection; hrs, hours (in the International 24-hour system); c., approximately; r.gn.m., rock and green mud; N4M, 4 metre cone-net.
Naked deep-sea eels with the body extremely slender and jaws excessively attenuated; snout much more than half length of head; teeth small with backwardly-directed, curving lips, numerous, set in curving bands and quincunxial rows; two pairs of large nostrils, the anterior with a short tube, close in front of eye; nuchal constriction present; gill-openings well developed, convergent forward, anus far in advance of middle of length; pectorals and vertical fins well developed; fin membranes thin, not enveloping rays; lateral line pores present or absent; caudal filament present or absent.—Beebe and Crane,
The members of this widely distributed family are delicate, attenuated eels living the major part of their lives in mid-water depths. Roule and Bertin (Nemichthys scolopaceus Richardson, Borodinula infans (Günther,
Previous to this account the Nemichthyidae has been recorded only once from New Zealand waters; this was the occurrence of a damaged specimen of Nemichthys on a baleen plate of a humpback whale killed near Tory Channel, Cook Strait, in N. scolopaceus. In their description of the specimen, Richardson and Garrick (Nemichthys but Gill and Ryder (Nemichthys and Labichthys, mainly on the nature of the lateral line—a triple row of pores in the former and a single row in the latter. It was further recognised by Jordan and Davis (Labichthys could be divided into those forms in which the "ano-pectoral length" is very short, equal to only about 0.7 of the postorbital length, and those in which this was much greater, equal to five times the postorbital length. The forms so recognised were named Labichthys and Avocettina respectively. Whitley (Avocettina, this being preoccupied by Avocettina (pro- nus Bonaparte, Borodinula, and this is accepted in the following account.
NemichthysGünther,1878 (partim).Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 5 (2): 251.
LabichthysGill and Ryder,1883 (partim).Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 6: 26.
AvocettinaJordan and Davis,1891 .Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish.(1888 ), 16: 655.
BorodinulaWhitley,1931 .Aust. Zool., 6 (4): 334.
Nemichthyids with a single row of pores in the lateral line and the anus located far behind the level of the pectoral base; caudal filament absent, teeth quincunxially arranged in straight rows; dorsal origin immediately behind level of pectoral base; dorsal rays in middle third of body neither short nor spinous.—Beebe and Crane,
Four species of Borodinula are recognised. B. infans (Günther, B. exophthalma (Parr, B. gilli (Bean, B. bowersii (Garman, B. infans was shown by Roule and Bertin (B. gilli and possibly B. bowersii with B. infans, although Beebe and Crane (B. exophthalma, having a wide interorbital space, larger eye and swollen head profile is clearly separable from the other three species which have a narrow interorbital region and in general, a smaller eye. Characteristic of both B. infans and B. exophthalma is the high number of dorsal fin-rays (300–350) and anal rays (about 30 less than the dorsal). B. bowersii, on the other hand, has only about 260 dorsal rays and 230 anal rays as well as a long postorbital region, clearly longer than in B. infans or B. exophthalma. The fin-rays have not as yet been counted in the type of B. gilli, and thus the case for the establishment of B. gilli as a species distinct from B. infans, is not so well defined, at least on this character. Bean's description of the type of B. gilli omitted all fin-ray counts and the number of lateral line pores; in addition, the tips of the jaws were broken off, although Bean was apparently unaware of this, with resultant errors in proportional measurements referred to the head. From more detailed examinations of the type by Bean (Parr,
In Roule and Bertin's study of 30 examples of Borodinula which they referred to B. infans, they found that the eye was contained in the postorbital 2.5–6.0 times and there were 166–194 pores in the lateral line. The relationship between the diameter of the eye and the interorbital width was not recorded in this account so on this character the type of B. gilli is not readily comparable; but it would B. infans by Roule and Bertin (B. gilli the interorbital is contained twice in the diameter of the eye.
Chapman's specimen (B. gilli and referred to this species, was more completely described than the type. It is clearly distinct from B. infans. The dorsal rays number 260, the anal 205; there are 156 pores in the lateral line (a value unusually low even for the genus as a whole: in 24 specimens of Borodinula infans in which the lateral line pores were counted by Roule and Bertin, the lowest count was 166 with the number not lower in shorter specimens); the interorbital width is contained twice in the eye, the eye in the postorbital about 3.3 times; there is no tendency for the eye to bulge into the profile of the head. Other proportions are scarcely definitive enough to be used as specific characters.
The above comparisons are presented to show that while the type of B. gilli can only be held distinct from B. infans on the insecure characters of narrow interorbital space, slightly larger eye and geographic discontinuity, Chapman's specimen, referred to B. gilli, is more clearly distinguishable from B. infans, whatever the type of B. gilli may eventually prove to be. Disregarding fin-ray counts in any case, Chapman's specimen is closer to the latter on other characters than to B. infans, and the fact that this specimen was taken close to the type locality of B. gilli cannot be ignored.
In the following account two species of Borodinula are described from four specimens taken in 500–600 fathoms from Cook Strait; three are identified with B. gilli, the fourth, damaged, with B. infans.
Borodinula gilli (Bean,
Labichthys gilliBean,1890 .Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 13: 455.
Avocettina infansBrauer,1906 (partim). Wiss. Ergebn. "Valdivia"15 (1): 129.
Avocettina infansRoule and Bertin,1929 (partim).Oceanogr. Rep. "Dana" Exped.1920 –22 , 4: 22–23.
Avocettina gilliBeebe and Crane,1937b .Zoologica, N.Y., 22 (4) 27: 367–368.
Avocettina gilliChapman,1940 .Occ. Pap. B.C. Mus., 2: 12–14.
Material Examined
Two specimens: Collection VUZ 85; 600 fathoms;
One specimen: Collection VUZ 86; 600 fathoms;
Specimens Previously Recorded
One specimen: Station 2859;
One specimen: Station
Description
(Text-fig. 1, A-1)
Body extremely elongate, moderately compressed anterior to vent, strongly compressed and band-like posteriorly; depth of body greatest at a point half-way along caudal region, where it is contained three times in postorbital length, but body tapering gradually to tip of tail. Head long, with an extended snout and much-produced, toothed jaws; fins delicate, scales absent.