LABRID^E. 267 



Genus V. Centrolabrus, Gilntlter. 

 Centrolabrus, part, Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



Branchiostegals five: pseudobranchice present. Body oblong and compressed. 

 Teeth, in the jaws in a single row of conical ones : no posterior canine. A single 

 dorsal fin consisting of more than 20 rays, of which at least 16 to 20 are spinous, 

 none are elongated : anal with more than three spines. Scales of moderate size : 

 those on the cheeks and opercles being imbricate. Lateral-line continuous. 



This genns was separated from Ctenolabrus, due to the teeth being in a single 

 row instead of in a band. 



Geographical distribution. Northern Europe and Greenland, to Madeira and 

 the Canary Isles. 



1. Centrolabrus exoletus, Plate LXXVI. 



Strom, Sondm. i, p. 267, No. 3. 



Labrus exoletus, Linn. Syst. i, p. 479, and Faun. Suec. p. 117 ; Shaw, Zool. iv, 

 p. 518 ; Mull. Pro. Zool. Dan. p. 46 ; Bonn. Atl. Ich. p. 115 ; Fabr. Fauna Gronl. 

 p. 166 ; Retz. Fauna Suec. p. 335 ; Bloch Schn. p. 260 ; Nilss. Prod. p. 77 ; Fries 

 and Ekstr. Skand. Fisk. p. 48, t. ix, f . 2. 



Labrus pentacanthus, Lacep. iii, p. 503. 



Crenilabrus microstoma (Couch) Thompson, P. Z. Soc. 1837, p. 55, Mag. Z. 

 B. ii, p. 446, pi. xiv, and Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 132. 



Crenilabrus exoletus, Kroyer, Dan. Fiske, i, p. 556, c. fig. 



Acantholabrus exoletus, Cuv. and Val. xiii, p. 247 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (Ed. 2) 

 i, p. 341 (Ed. 3) i, p. 518 ; Nilss. Skan. Faun. Fisk. p. 277 ; White, Catal. p. 25 ; 

 Collett, Norges Fisk. p. 94, and Christ. Vid. Selsk. Forh. 1879, p. 61. 



Acantholabrus microstoma, Cuv. and Yal. xiii, p. 25U. 



Centrolabrus exoletus, Gunther, Catal. iv, p. 92. 



Mock cook, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, iii, p. 41, pi. cxxx. 



B. v, D. I ^ !L) , P. 14, V. 1/5, A. T T , C 15, L. 1. 32-35, L. tr. ^:^ T . 



Length of head 4^, of caudal fin 5^, height of body h\ in the total length. 

 Eye diameter 1/3 of the length of the head, nearly 1 diameter from the end of 

 the snout, and 1 apart. Body compressed. Gape of mouth small, and cleft 

 shallow : jaws of equal length in front, while the maxilla reaches posteriorly 

 nearly halfway to the front edge of the orbit : lips fleshy. Both the vertical and 

 half the horizontal limb of the preopercle strongly serrated. Teeth in a single 

 row of conical, somewhat curved and pointed ones in each jaw : no posterior 

 canine. Fins the dorsal commences over the base of the pectoral, its spines are 

 of moderate strength and sub-equal in height, the posterior ones being nearly as 

 long as the soft rays. Pectoral as long as the head excluding the snout. Anal 

 commencing on a vertical line beneath the twelfth or thirteenth dorsal spine, 

 has its last four spines somewhat exceeding the length of those in the dorsal fin, 

 and almost equalling those of the soft rays. Caudal square, having the angles 

 rounded. Scales three rows across the cheeks : some on the subopercle. 

 Lateral-line descends forming a curve beneath the soft portion of the dorsal 

 fin. Colours of a rich brown along the back, becoming shaded with yellow 

 on the sides, and sometimes silvery on the chest ; while some narrow yellow 

 lines run along the rows of scales. A dark spot on the upper portion of 

 the eye. Two blue bands pass from the eye to the angle of the mouth, and two 

 more along the preopercle. A dull bluish mark upon the opercle. Fins silvery 

 stained with yellow, the dorsal and anal lightest externally : a single line of 

 dark marks along the spinous dorsal, becoming two posteriorly, and on the soft 

 portion : anal similarly coloured. Caudal with a white outer margin, having a 

 black base which is extended over the middle portion of the fin being darkest 

 posteriorly. 



