113. PLEURONECTID^E - PLEURONICHTHYS. 829 



short, blunt snout; mouth small, with several series of slender, acute 

 teeth, which are most developed on the blind side, and are often want- 

 ing in one or both jaws on the colored side; no teeth on vomer or pala- 

 tines; lips thick, with several lengthwise folds, within which is a series 

 of short fringes. Lower pharyngeals narrow, each with a double row 

 of very small teeth. Gill-rakers wide-set, very short and weak. Lat- 

 eral line nearly straight, with a dorsal branch in our species. Scales 

 small, cycloid, non-imbricate, imbedded. Dorsal fin anteriorly twisted 

 from the dorsal ridge toward the blind side; anal fin preceded by a 

 spiae; caudal tin convex behind. Intestinal canal elongate. Herbiv- 

 orous species, feeding chiefly on algce. Pacific Ocean. (xteupov, side; 



fyOuZ) fish.) 



a. Dorsal tin beginning on the level of the lower lip; interocular ridge with blunt 

 or sharpish tubercles. 



P. decurrcns J. & G. 



Color brownish, usually much mottled with chocolate and grayish, 

 often finely spotted with brownish on body and fins. Eyes very large, 

 3 in head ; a blunt tubercle in front of upper eye, another at each end 

 of the narrow iuterorbital ridge, the posterior largest, but usually not 

 spine-like; two or three above the latter behind the upper eye; some 

 prominences above the opercle; a band of teeth on the right side of 

 the lower jaw, similar to that on the blind side, but narrower. Ver- 

 tical fins high, the longest dorsal and anal rays two-thirds the length 

 of the head. Dorsal beginning very low, on level of end of maxillary, 

 its first nine rays on the blind side. Head 3|; depth If. D. 72; A. 46 

 L. 12 inches. Coast of California; rather common in deep water. 



(Pleuronichthys ccenosus Lockington, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 97: PleuronicJithyt 

 quadrituberculatua Jor. & Gilb. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880. 50, nee Pallas; Jordan & 

 Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 453.) 



aa. Dorsal fin beginning on the level of the upper lip. 



1). Interocular ridge posteriorly with a strong, backward-directed spine. 



12'3'. P. verticalis Jordan & Gilbert. 



Color dark olive brown, mottled with lighter and darker, sometimes 

 with light grayish spots ; middle of sides often with a dark spot ocel- 

 lated with light olive, this again surrounded by darker; fins light, often 

 tinged and margined with reddish, and mottled with blackish. Eyes 

 large, 3 in head ; a tubercle in front of each eye, and one at anterior 

 end of interorbital ridge; posterior end of ridge with a strong, sharp, 

 backward directed spine; a tubercle behind upper eye; right side of 

 lower jaw without teeth. Dorsal and anal fins lower than in P. decur- 



