14 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Genus IV. Serranus, Cuvier. 



Epinephelus, sp. Bloch : Cephalopholis, sp. Bl. Schn. : Paraserramis and 

 Serranichthys, Bleeker : Labroperca, Mycteroperca, Bodianus, Enneacentrus, Petro- 

 metopon, Promicrops, Schistoras, and Menephorus, Gill : Prospinus, Poey : Priacan- 

 thichthys {young), Day: Paralabrax, Paranthias, and Itaiara, Vaillant and 

 Bocourt. 



Branchiostegals seven : pseudobranchiai present. Eyes lateral, of moderate size. 



Preopercle with its vertical limb more or less serrated, its horizontal one generally 



entire : opercle with two or three flat spines. Teeth villiform in the jaws, vomer and 

 palate: canines usually present : tongue smooth. Dorsal fin single, having from 8 to 



12 spines : anal with 3 : caudal cut square or obliquely, emarginate or rounded. 



Scales small, ctenoid or cycloid. Pyloric appendages many, in moderate numbers, or 

 few. 



These fishes, as might be expected in a genus which is so widely distributed, 

 show many individual differences. The colour varies extensively and cannot even 

 be accepted as a trustworthy guide for dividing Serrani into groups. The form of 

 the preopercle is not invariably identical in every specimen of a species, or even 

 on the opposite sides of the head in the same fish : while a spine is occasionally 

 present at its angle in the immature, becoming more or less absorbed in the adult. 

 The sub- and inter-opercles may be serrated or smooth in the same species, as is 

 well exemplified in the Indian Serranus bcenack. The fins also alter with age, 

 owing to the spines not increasing in length so rapidly as the rays, consequently 

 they may be comparatively shorter in the adult than in the young. Even the soft 

 rays in the mature fish are of less proportionate height to the entire length of the 

 specimen than they are in the immature. The same thing occurs in respect to the 

 anal spines, the second being sometimes the longest in the immature, but shorter 

 than the third in the mature : this appears usually due to the second spine 

 augmenting in thickness while the third is increasing in length. Occasionally 

 there is an excess of one spine and a deficiency of one soft ray in the dorsal fin, 

 the first of the latter having taken on a spinous character, a phase which is seen 

 more commonly in some of the Sparidce. The number of the rows of scales is 

 very important among these fishes, as so ably pointed out by the late Dr. Bleeker, 

 who invariably counted the number of transverse rows going to the lateral-line 

 from above and below. Hybrids have been recorded. 



Geographical distribution. Seas of temperate and tropical regions, sometimes 

 ascending rivers for predaceous purposes. In the British Isles two species have 

 been recorded, one a resident, the other an occasional or accidental visitor. 



1. Serranus cabrilla, Plate IV. 



Xai'j], Salviani. 



Perca, Rondel, vi, c. 8, p. 182, c. fig. ; Gesner, Ed. 1598, f. 16, c. fig. Perca 

 marina, var. B. Brunnich ; Jonston, De Pise. lib. i, t. ii, c. i, art. viii, p. 47, t. xiv, 

 f. 10, 11, 12 ; Ray, p. 140. 



Perca cabrilla, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 488 ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1322 ; Jenyns, Man. 

 Brit. Vert. p. 352. 



Holocentrus virescens, Bloch, t. ccxxxiii ; Bl. Schn. p. 313 ; Lacep. iv, p. 357. 

 marinus, Lacep. iv, p. 376. 



Lutjanus serranus, Lacep. iv, p. 205. 



Serranus marinus, &ndflavus, Risso. Ich. Nice, pp. 291, 293. 

 cabrilla, Cuv. and Val. ii, p. 223, pi. xxix ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (Ed. I) 

 i, p. 9, c. fig. (Ed. 2) i, p. 11 (Ed. 3), ii, p. 129; Swainson, Pishes ii, p. 201 ; 

 White, Catal. Brit. Pish. p. 11 ; Nordman, in Demid. Voy. Russ. Merid. iii, 

 p. 367 ; Guichen. Expl. Sc. Alger. Poiss. p. 33, pi. 1 ; Giinther, Catal. i, p. 106 ; 

 Steind. Ich. Spanien u. Port. 1867, p. 9. 



Perca channus, Couch, Loud. Mag. Nat. Hist, v, p. 19, f. 6. 



Serranus novemcinctus, Kner, Novara Fishes, p. 17, t. ii, f. 1. 



Comber, Couch, Fish. Brit. Isles, i, p. 195, pi. xlii. 



