SHORT BIGEYE IX WESTERN NORTH ATLANTIC 



139 



the line adjacent to the third spine persisted to 

 the largest size. 



PIGMENTATION OF LIVING AND FRESHLY 

 PRESERVED SPECIMENS 



The following color notes were made on a 196.5- 

 min. specimen of P. alfuti collected bv handline in 

 25 fathoms off Panama City, Florida, on April 19, 

 1958. The notes on live color were made from  

 the fish just before preservation and from a 

 Kodachrome transparency made of the specimen 

 before preservation. The notes after preservation 

 were made on April 21, after the fish liad been 

 killed and preserved in 10-percent formalin and 

 not exposed to light beyond the first few hours. 



In Life 



Alive, and just after capture, the specimen was 

 bright carmine with the exception of the black 

 edges on the soft-dorsal and anal fins, and on the 

 caudal and pelvic fins. 



\Mien the live fish was handled before preserva- 

 tion, its color faded into carmine bars and very 

 light pink interspaces (see body pigmentation of 

 preserved adult). The dorsal fin was yellow- 

 orange below milky white tips. The iris of the 

 eye was golden, and the surrounding areas carmine. 



Two Days After Preservation 



The interspinous membranes of the dorsal and 

 anal fins were yellow except for milky areas in the 

 shape of right triangles near the spine tips. The 

 base of the triangle was parallel to the body of the 

 fish, and the perpendicular side was against the 

 anterior of the two spines. The leading edges of 

 the dorsal spines were dark carmine except for 

 their tips. The caudal, soft-dorsal, and soft-anal 

 fins were light, mottled carmine with black edges. 

 In the soft dorsal these mottled areas formed four 

 alternating light and dark bands directed ob- 

 hcjuely dorsoventrally, beginning with a dark 

 anterior band. The pelvic fin was light carmine 

 with a black edge, and the pectoral was light 

 carmine. 



These descriptions agree with the usual descrip- 

 tions of color in the literature; i.e., a crimson fish 

 with black markings on vertical and pelvic fins. 

 The pattern of black, as noted in the description 

 of preserved color, varies with the size of the fisii. 

 The brief color descriptions by Smith (1907: p. 

 285) and Jordan and Evermann (1S96: p. 1240) 

 apparently are from a large fish ; thai of Hildebrand 



and Schroeder (1928: p. 255) from a transforming 

 piejuvenile. 



The color of the live pelagic prejuvenile has not 

 been described. That of a close relative, Priacan- 

 (hiis cruentatus (Lacepfede), has been described 

 elsewhere (D. K. Caldwell, in press) and consisted 

 of blues and silvers — as expected in most pelagic 

 prejuveniles (Hubbs, 1941: p. 184). The color- 

 ation of pelagic Pseudopriacanthus altus may be 

 similar, with the red hue assumed almost imme- 

 diately on arrival inshore. 



The usual reference to color of specimens caught 

 in tidepools — all such references seen were from 

 the northern latitudes — is "bright red" (see for 

 example, Nichols and Breder, 1927: p. 83). Scat- 

 tergood and Coffin (1957: p. 156), in a more de- 

 tailed description, said of the color of a 28-mm. 

 individual collected in a trap set at 10 fathoms — 



The body color in life was orange red; the spiny dorsal 

 fin had two rows of orange spots, two on each spine; the 

 ventral spine had two orange spots; the iris had four white 

 spots; and immediately above the lateral line was a row of 

 12 black blotches. 



Tlie lateral-line spots of iny prejuvenile Pseudo- 

 priacanthus altus were discussed in the section on 

 body pigmentation of preserved specimens. The 

 orange spots on the spinous dorsal of Scattergood 

 and Coffin's specimen apparently are the light 

 spots I described for preserved specimens. 



These spots on the spinous dorsal do appear 

 dark in a black and white photograph of a living 

 specimen of unstated size (fig. 24), taken through 

 an aciuarium glass at Marine Studios, Florida; I 

 did not see the living fish. This fish is probably 

 the same metamorphosing specimen 1 referred to 

 earlier as being about 40 mm. at capture and 73 

 mm. at death. The date of capture was August 

 7, and that on tlie photograph, "Sept." In the 

 photograph of the living fish the dark areas on the 

 spinous fin are edged with black, as are the light 

 areas on the same fin after preservation. The 

 spaces between these black-edged disks are light 

 on the fiving fish, while in a preserved specimen of 

 slightly smaller size tliey are dusky (fig. 15). The 

 spots Scattergood and Coffin referred to on the 

 ventral spine are probably the light areas I re- 

 ferred to on the pelvic spine. Gordon (1960: 

 plate 49) showed a photograph of an apparently 

 IVesiily killed pre transformation prejuvenile ex- 

 hil)iting coloration similar to that of this living 

 specimen. He described the color of the specimen 



