Fins scaleless, as well as caudal rays. Dorsal and anal fins very long at base; spinous rays few. Lateral line normal.
Dekaya anomala, Cooper, n. sp., State coll. No. 618. [[Fig. 17.]]
Fig. 17.
Specific characters.—Length of head contained five times in total length. Distance from end of snout to orbit one-third the length of head, and greater than width of orbit. Height of head just behind orbit about equal to distance from tip of snout to edge of preoperculum; breadth one-third to one-half of its length. Skin on occiput elevated from the bone by a thick layer of fat, not by any bony expansions.
Height of pectoral fin less than length of head; its width about one-third of its height, middle rays longest.
Dorsal arising above pectoral joint, its length one-third that of the fish; first spine one-ninth the length of the fin; the other spines lengthening to the commencement of the soft portion, of which the longest ray is one-fifth the length of the fin, and the last ray one-fifteenth; the entire fin having a gradually arching outline.
Caudal moderately broad, deeply forked, and acutely pointed; the upper lobe slightly the largest.
Anal similar in form to dorsal, arising opposite its eighth soft ray and prolonged a little farther back. It is three-fifths as long as dorsal, its height about one-fourth its length, the first (spinous) ray and the last each half as long as the longest.