448 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



the stomach. It has a yellow stripe running lengthwise 

 down the side and others of the same color, but nar- 

 rower, running below and parallel. It has yellow ventral 

 and anal fins and the other fins are white with dark 

 and narrow stripes .... The head does not bear yel- 

 low stripes ; the dorsal and caudal fins have black stripes 

 running obliquely from the front to the back ; three in 

 the first dorsal, two in the second, and five in each lobe 

 of the tail, which is deeply indented .... I have seen 

 some In May of 1852 of three, five, and six inches and 

 none in the preceding years. Among those of three inches 

 there was one which had five black spots under the yellow 

 longitudinal stripes .... 



The preserved specimens examined were pale 

 yellow except for three or four black bars, invari- 

 ably retained, on the ventral lobe of the caudal 

 fin. 



A mullid from the western North Atlantic that 

 has retained these bars in preservative should be 

 suspected of being V. parvit^, as M. auratus, the 

 other species that has bars on the caudal fin, (see 

 Pigmentation, Mullus aurat-us) loses them very 

 rapidly in preservative. Mulloidichthys martini- 

 cus is not reported as having a barred caudal 

 (Longley and Hildebrand, 1941 ; Beebe and Tee- 

 Van, 1928; Nichols, 1929), and I did not observe 

 bars either. Nor were bars noted on the caudal 

 fin of any of the 274 specimens of P. maculatus 

 examined. 

 Fins 



Spinous dorsal. — U. parvus had seven spines 

 in the first dorsal (fig. 37). A minute first spine 

 was lacking on all specimens. 



Figure 37.— Spinous dorsal fin of 44.0-mm. Upeneua 

 parvus. Line equals 2 mm. 



Soft dorsal. — The adults had a second dorsal 

 ray count of one unbranched ray and eight 

 branched rays, all segmented. The smallest speci- 

 men (20.8 mm.) had eight segmented rays, four 

 of which were branched. The second ray, the last 

 to branch in this fin, had branched at 43 mm. 



The first ray, wliich was the last to segment, 

 became segmented by about 26 mm. 



Pectoral. — The number of pectoral rays in the 

 larger specimens ranged from 14 to 16 (table 15, 

 p. 444). Of the 23 specimens examined over 50 

 mm., 8.7 percent had 14, 65.2 percent had 15, and 

 26.1 percent had 16. Of the smaller specimens ex- 

 amined, only one had fewer than 14 rays, a 21.6- 

 mm. specimen with 13 rays. The percentage of 

 specimens with 15 or 16 rays, however, increases 

 with size until a maximimi is reached at some point 

 between 68 and 105 mm., a range in which I had 

 no specimens. 



Segmentation was not manifest on either the 

 25.6- or 26.7-mm. specimens, but was on a 28.1- 

 mm. specimen, and all rays were segmented by 

 60 mm. Segmentation proceeded in advance of 

 branching, and the number of segmented rays ex- 

 ceeded the number of branched rays by two to 

 four at all stages. 



The first two rays were not branched on any 

 specimen. Branching was complete on a 64.2- 

 mm. specimen. 



Pelvic. — The smallest specimen (20.8 mm.) had 

 the adult complement of fiii rays, I, 5, and the 

 soft rays were all branched as well as segmented. 



A7ial. — The anal fin of the 20.8-mm. specimen 

 has the adult complement of rays, I, i, 6. There 

 were six segmented rays, four of which were 

 branched. In a 21.6-mm. specimen segmentation 

 was evident in all seven rays, and between 30 and 

 34 mm. branching was complete. 



Caudal. — In the specimens examined the caudal 

 fin principal ray count of the genus Upeneus 

 was i, 7 -I- 6, i; this count agrees with that of 

 Lachner (1954). A secondary ray counts on 

 unstained or undissected material over 55 mm. 

 were of dubious accuracy, but on 13 specimens up 

 to this size I counted 16 secondary rays. On all 

 specimens over 34 mm. the first two rays adja- 

 cent to the principal rays on both the dorsal and 

 ventral lobes were segmented. Further segmen- 

 tation of secondary rays was not studied, as no 

 larger specimens were available for staining. 



Gill rakers 



Total number of gill rakers, number of lower- 

 limb gill rakers, and number of gill rakers on the 

 ceratobranchial bone were counted in specimens 

 ranging in size from 20.8 to 172.5 mm. (tables 16 

 and 17, p. 449, and fig. 35) . 



[ii 



