Kali Lloyd 1909

Kali Lloyd 1909

Snake-toothed swallowers

Kali Lloyd 1909: 154 –155, Plate 45 [type species: Kali indica Lloyd 1909, by original designation; gender: Feminine].

Odontonema Weber 1913: 149 [type species: Odontonema kerberti Weber 1913, by original designation].

Dolichodon Parr 1931a: 45 –4, not Dolichodon Gray 1865; not Dolicodon Frazango 1874 [type species: Dolichodon normani Parr 1931, by original designation].

Hemicyclodon Parr 1931b: 162 [substitute name for Dolichodon, preoccupied].

Gargaropteron Smith 1965: 569, figure 1 [type species: Gargaropteron pterodactylops Smith 1965, by original designation].

Diagnosis. The genus Kali is diagnosed from Chiasmodon, Dysalotus and Pseudoscopelus by three characteristics: branchiostegal rays six (vs. branchiostegal rays seven); the presence of strikingly recurved teeth in the mesial series of both premaxilla and dentary (vs. teeth in mesial series of dentary and premaxilla straight or slightly curved, never recurved); and a unique type of tooth attachment to bone, the ventral attachment, that connects the ventral basis of the tooth to the dentigerous area of denary and premaxilla, allowing the rotation on a reflex angle of up to 270o on its own axis (vs. tooth completely ankylosed to bone, or with posterior attachment that allows deflection but not allows tooth rotation; for further discussion on other types of tooth attachment among the teleosts see Fink 1981 and Huysseune & Sire 1998). Kali can be further diagnosed from Dysalotus by dentition in two rows (vs. dentition in three series of several rows); and prickles on flank absent (vs. prickles on flank present). From Chiasmodon and Pseudoscopelus, by the cranium fragile with bone trabeculae of frontals easily distinguishable with naked eye (vs. bones forming cranium well calcified with trabeculae not apparent); nasal weakly calcified, circular but not spoon-shaped, positioned in the dorsal part of the snout, and covered by pigmented skin (vs. nasal spoon-shaped in the lateral or anterior sides of the snout, covered by thin transparent skin); parietals small, with less than half the size of supraoccipital (vs. parietals enlarged, of same size or little smaller than supraoccipital); pre- and postzygapophyses absent (vs. pre- and postzygapophyses present); elongate neuromasts in head absent (vs. enlarged elongated neuromasts exposed in surface of head, over supraoccipital, parietals, frontals and pterotic cranial bones, face, snout, and lower jaw); last scale of lateral line contiguous with penultimate scale (vs. last scale of the lateral line well separated from the penultimate scale and positioned on lower lobe of the caudal fin).

Description. Dentition and color patterns detailed in species accounts. Body elongate, laterally compressed. Greatest body depth at origin of first dorsal fin. Scales absent, except for lateral-line scales, embedded in skin.

Anterior profile of head elongate, concave in lateral view, snout pointed or slightly concave. Bones of head remarkably fragile, with bone trabecules visible by naked eye. Head with cavernous appearance, with dorsal concavity at level of braincase medially and well developed crests in frontals, extending laterally to concavity in posterior part of cranium, and converging at level of posterior naris; foramina of sensorial system of head wide. Lower jaw projecting anterior to upper jaw, slightly arched in Kali colubrina, K. macrura, and K. parri, and moderately arched in K. indica, K. falx, K. kerberti, and K. macrodon; upper jaw slightly arched in K. colubrina, K. macrura, and K. parri, and moderately arched in K. indica, K. falx, K. kerberti, and K. macrodon. Ascending process of premaxilla flat in K. colubrina, K. falx, K. indica, K. parri, K. macrura, and with anterior concavity in K. macrodon and K. kerberti. Orbit circular, nares oval, and distinctly separated.

Rays of fins fragile and often broken, few specimens available with fins intact; pectoral fin insertion lateral on body, posterior to angle of opercle; pelvic fin insertion ventral, below or slightly anterior to pectoral fin. Dorsal fins two, true spines (sensu Johnson & Patterson 1993) present only in first dorsal fin; last spine of first dorsal fin frequently embedded in skin. Anal fin opposite to second dorsal fin, lacking true spines. Caudal fin forked, lacking true spines.

Gill arches four, with poorly developed filaments; pseudobranchia present. Epibranchial of first arch attached to opercle until midline; ceratobranchial of second, third and fourth arches linked; fourth gill arch mostly attached to body wall, except for oval slit in ceratobranchial.

Distribution. World-wide, in the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific, and Southern Ocean, from 53° N to 60° S.

Etymology. Named after Kali, a Hindu goddess.

Remarks. The skin of Kali is very delicate and missing in the majority of the examined specimens; in most specimens only the dermis is preserved, but the epidermis is completely gone; in others, even dermis is destroyed. With the exception of the type series of K. parri, no other specimen examined has the skin fully preserved on the head; therefore a precise count of pores in the dorsal part of head was not possible.