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MCCOSKEr & OKaMOTO: NEw SNaKE EEl FrOM EaST ChINa SEa 327<br />
5; snout length 7.3; tip of snout to tip of lower jaw 0.3; upper-jaw length 13.2; eye diameter 3.1; interorbital<br />
distance 1.6. Total left-lateral pores 171, 8–10 above branchial basket, 83 before anus, last pore<br />
13 mm before tail tip. Vertebral formula 9/82/186.<br />
DESCRIPTION (other characters those of the genus).— Body elongate, depth at gill openings 44 in<br />
Tl, cylindrical in head and trunk, laterally compressed in tail region. head and trunk 2.2 and head 12.1<br />
in Tl. Snout acute, without a median groove on its underside. Jaws elongate, capable of closing completely;<br />
center of eye above posterior 1 ⁄3 of upper jaw. lower jaw extended slightly beyond tip of snout.<br />
anterior nostrils open well above upper lip with a small barbel in anterodorsal corner, without a tube<br />
or marginal extensions; posterior nostril in upper lip, not entering mouth, covered by a flap and not<br />
obvious, its posterior margin abutting anterior margin of orbit. Eye moderate, 10.8 in head and 4.3 in<br />
upper jaw, its center above posterior 2 ⁄3 of upper jaw, its rear margin in advance of rictus. Interorbital<br />
region narrow, slightly elevated. Gill openings low lateral, vertical, not converging forward, opening<br />
about twice eye diameter. Pectoral fins absent. dorsal-fin origin above gill opening. Median fins low,<br />
extending to ½ hl before pointed end of caudal fin.<br />
head pores minute but apparent (Fig. 5); supraorbital pores 1 + 3, infraorbital pores 5 + 3, 5 pores<br />
along mandible, 3 pores overlying preopercle, 3 supratemporal pores. a single temporal and interorbital<br />
pore. Two infraorbital pores between anterior and posterior nostrils. approximately 171 lateralline<br />
pores present, 7–10 (7 left, 10 right) above branchial basket, 83 before mid-anus, last pore about<br />
13 mm before tail tip.<br />
Teeth (Fig. 6) small, conical, numerous and densely packed. anterior ethmovomerine teeth the<br />
largest, slightly retrorse, followed by 6–7 irregular rows of smaller teeth, followed by a row of 25<br />
smaller vomerine teeth. Teeth of maxillary and mandibular in patches, becoming smaller and more<br />
numerous posteriorly. Maxillary patch is approximately 150 teeth which become smaller and more<br />
densely packed posteriorly. Mandibular patch is approximately 250 teeth, becoming smaller and more<br />
densely packed posteriorly. (Teeth of the single specimen too difficult to accurately examine without<br />
dissection.)<br />
Gill arches (Fig. 3) mostly cartilaginous: basibranchials 1–4 cartilaginous; hypobranchials 1–4<br />
cartilaginous; ceratobranchial 1 cartilaginous, 2–4 ossified, 5 minute and cartilaginous; epibranchial 1<br />
cartilaginous, 2–4 ossified; infrapharyngobranchials 2–3 ossified; upper and lower pharyngeal tooth<br />
plates with 5 nearly regular rows of small, conical, densely packed and slightly retrorse teeth, the upper<br />
pharyngeal tooth plate with 5 longitudinal rows of ca. 15 teeth, plates closely sutured but not fused;<br />
the lower pharyngeal tooth plate with 20–25 conical teeth in 5 irregular longitudinal rows. Teeth comparable<br />
in size and appearance to those of jaws.<br />
Body coloration in ethyl alcohol (coloration of fresh specimen shown in Figs. 1–2) uniform yellowish-tan,<br />
overlain with two rows of distinctive uniformly brown spots equal to or slightly smaller<br />
than orbit. Upper row with 70–75 round spots arranged slightly closer than their interspaces, meeting<br />
but not crossing at dorsal midline. lower row has smaller and more numerous spots centered along lateral<br />
line that become enlarged in mid-trunk region. Snout spots much smaller, increasing in size behind<br />
orbit. Median fins pale. Cheeks, chin, ventral surface and peritoneum overlain with fine brown speckling.<br />
anal opening within a pale spot. Throat and palate pale. lateral-line pores within pale spots. Tail<br />
tip pale like ground color.<br />
SIZE.— Known only from the holotype, a 407 mm Tl female with maturing ova.<br />
ETYMOLOGY.— From the latin camelopardalis (giraffe), in reference to its coloration, to be treated<br />
as a noun in apposition.<br />
DISTRIBUTION.— Known only from the holotype, captured by trawl at 150 m depth in the East<br />
China Sea.<br />
REMARKS.— The holotype of the new species is a female and becoming sexually mature. The lat-