Macrourus

Macrourus is a small benthopelagic genus of rattails from the family Macrouridae.

==General features== The species in the genus Macrourus have large broad heads which are over four times as deep as they are long with a snout which varies from rounded to bluntly pointed, with a substantial modified spiny scale at its tip. They have a strong, suborbital ridge that extends onto preopercle and ends with a sharp point. The eyes have a diameter of around one third of the length of the head. They have small teeth which are set in in moderate to broad bands in the premaxilla which taper posteriorly and ending well short of the ends of the lips; the mandibular band is either 3 or 4 teeth wide at the symphysis, narrowing to 1 row posteriorly and extending to about the end of the lips. They have a serrated spiny dorsal fin ray; the pelvic fin usually has 8 or 9 rays. The anus is at the anal fin, there is no photophore. Their maximum size is probably around .