FAMILY TRIGLID/E URANIDEA. 61 



Color. All the head and body above, together with the fins, of a carmine red. A brown 

 blotch on the posterior part of the opercle. Beneath lighter, and in the recent fish of a bright 

 rose-red. Pupils black ; irides yellow. 



Length, 12-0-24-0. 



Fin rays, D. 15.15; P. 19; V. 1.6; A. 3.8; C. 15. 



This is a very rare fish in our waters. It is called, by our fishermen, Red Sea Perch, and 

 they say it is only found in deep water. By the fishermen of Massachusetts, it is known 

 under the various names of Rose-fish, Hemdurgon, and Snapper. Fabricius states that it is 

 rather agreeable food, but meagre. In Greenland, the lips are eaten raw. It feeds on flounders 

 and other fish, and takes the hook readily. It is a native of the northern seas, found on the 

 coast of Newfoundland rather abundantly, and more rarely along the seaboard of Massachu- 

 setts. The coast of New-York is probably its extreme southern limit. 



GENUS URANIDEA. 



Head wide, depressed. Body without scales. Two dorsals. Ventrals with three rays. 

 Eyes nearly vertical. Opercle smooth ; preopercle with a single spine. Teeth on the 

 jaws, vomer and tongue. 



THE LITTLE STAR-GAZER. 



URANIDEA dCIESCENS. 



PLATE V. FIG. 14. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Characteristics. Olive-brown, varied with dusky. Tail long, even. Length two to three 

 inches. 



Description. Head large, depressed, with the angles of the jaws much dilated. No scales 

 were noticed, even with the aid of the lens. A series of mucous pores on the upper part of 

 the head. Lateral line near the back, and concurrent with it. Eyes large, and nearly verti- 

 cal. Mouth very large, with minute recurved teeth on the jaws, vomer and tongue. A stout 

 sword-shaped spine, O'l in length, on the preopercle. Branchial rays seven. 



The first dorsal fin is low and rounded, and composed of seven simple feebly spinous rays, 

 and arises near the anterior third of the body ; it is separated by a very short interval from 

 the second dorsal fin, which is higher than the first, and composed of sixteen slender rays 

 gradually diminishing behind. Pectoral fins very large, broad and rounded. (In some of the 

 impressions, the right pectoral is drawn so incorrectly, that it appears like a third dorsal.) 

 The tips of the pectorals extend to the second or third ray of the posterior dorsal. Ventrals 

 very long, placed immediately under the pectorals, and composed of three very slender rays. 

 The anal fin corresponds in its origin nearly with the second dorsal, but terminates short of 



