158 ' ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Dorsal fin commencing on the neck, a little behind the 

 verticle of the eye ; third spine longest, the others decreasing 

 in length to the twelfth ; thirteenth half as long as the rays. 

 Margin of soft dorsal somewhat rounded ; the posterior ray 

 deeply cleft, almost forming two rays. All the spines of the 

 fins deeply grooved. Anal below the soft dorsal, terminating 

 slightly in advance of it ; second spine longest, very strong, 

 more than three-fourths as long as the second ray ; soft 

 portion rounded, the posterior ray deeply cleft or divided 

 into two. Pectoral not reaching the verticle of the vent ; 

 the hinder margin of the upper half is rounded, but the 

 fifteenth to seventeenth rays project beyond the others ; the 

 seven lower rays are thickened and more or less branched. 

 Ventrals elongate, reaching almost to or a little beyond the 

 vent. Caudal subtruncate with the angles rounded, or 

 slightly rounded ; the lower rays may be longer than the 

 upper ones. 



Colour. Light yellow in formalin, probably red in life, 

 with irregular darker spots on the scales which tend to form 

 the marking characteristic of other species of the genus ; 

 more or less numerous small, blackish dots at the bases of 

 the scales are scattered over the upper half of the sides and 

 head. Spinous dorsal with cloudy darker areas on the 

 membrane, the tips behind the spine whitish. Outer half of 

 membrane of soft dorsal and ventrals greyish. Pectorals, 

 anal, and caudal with more or less distinct darker spots on 

 the rays, which tend to form bands ; the caudal has a median 

 dusky area in the smallest specimen. 



Described from three specimens 240-360 mm. long. Apart 

 from the variations noted they are very similar, though the 

 dorsal spines are much higher in the young than in the older 

 specimen ; the third spine is 1.3 in the height of the body in 

 the smallest example, and 1.8 in the largest. The specimen 

 figured is 327 mm. long, and is selected as the type. 



Locs. Great Australian Bight, west of the meridian of 

 Eucla, 70-120 fathoms ; March, 1912. 



South of Kangaroo Island, South Australia. 



Genus HELICOLENUS, Goode & Bean. 



HELICOLENUS PERCOIDES, Richardson. 



Red Perch, Red Gurnet Perch, Gurnet, Sea Perch. 



Sebastes percoides, Richardson. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ix., 

 1842, p. 384, and Zool. "Erebus & Terror," Fishes, 

 1845, p. 23, pi. xv. Id., McCoy, Prodr. Zool. Viet., 

 Dec. iv., 1879, pi. xxxiii. 



