200 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



and soft-fin lobe very bright orange; outer naargin 

 of soft anal hyaline, remainder dusky. Pectorals 

 dusky at base, hyaline elsewhere. Pel vies with 

 white background interspersed with very bright 

 orange. Caudal with orange-yellow on most of 

 lobes; outer rays dusky almost to tips; inner rays 

 grading to hyaline. One 39.5-mm. specimen had 

 much the same coloration except that it was 

 duskier and the orange was more intense. My 

 notes on a 64-mm. fresh specimen indicate similar 

 coloration and give eye color as "pupil blue- 

 black; iris coppery." 



A single specimen, 17.6 mm., was kept in an 

 aquarium and observed over a period of time. 

 The following notes pertain to this specimen : 



(1) June 5, 1958, at 1130 hours. Body silvery 

 with slightly pinkish tinge on dorsal aspect. 

 Spinous dorsal and soft fin lobe black; remainder 

 with melanophores forming dusky lines between 

 rays and along base. Spinous anal and soft fin 

 lobe orange-red; remainder hyaline. Pectorals, 

 pelvics, and caudal hyaline. Eye with pink- 

 orange iris. At 1144 hours, body and fin color 

 remained much the same, but iris was silvery. 



(2) Undated, but between June 5 and June 9, 

 1958. Fish in aquarium — color as described June 

 5, 1958 at 1130 hours. Fish removed from aquar- 

 ium and placed in beaker (of sea water); agitated 

 by microscope light, and confinement. Posterior 

 half of body turned dusky gray. Fish carried 

 (outdoors) into direct sunlight — turned silvery. 

 Retm-ned indoors. Posterior half turned brown, 

 then brownish color migrated to behind pectorals. 

 When color began receding rearward, fish was 

 agitated. Brown pigment covered entire body 

 and head. Insertion of black or white background 

 (into beaker) seemed to cause Uttle immediate 

 change in coloration. However, when left against 

 white background for about 20 minutes, the top 

 of head and back in front of spinous dorsal 

 became a blotched flesh color. Fish returned to 

 aquarium. After about 10 minutes, the colora- 

 tion was silvery, as first described. 



Subsequent tests with the same fish yielded 

 similar results. Usually when the fish was dis- 

 turbed the posterior half of the body turned uni- 

 formly dark brown first and then the color mi- 

 grated anteriorly. The intensity of color change 

 and the time involved varied considerably. The 

 fish also showed some color changes when undis- 

 turbed in the aquarium. Usually these changes 



involved duskiness or blackness on areas of the 

 body and on the dorsal lobe. 



Variations in body depth in T. falcatus are con- 

 siderable and exhibit no distinct relation to 

 geographical location or time of year. Generally, 

 fish taken at the same time and location have 

 comparable depths, but specimens taken at differ- 

 ent times from the same location and from differ- 

 ent locations have widely diverse depths. Figure 

 18 illustrates the depth differences, expressed as 

 percent of standard length of fish taken at five 

 locations along the south Atlantic coast. Two of 

 these locations. King and Prince Beach, St. Simons 

 Island, Ga.,and Fort Pierce, Fla., are represented 

 twice each. 



Marked differences occur in coloration and 

 dorsal and anal profiles in the depth extremes in 

 T.Jalcatus (figs. 11 and 12), and a general correla- 

 tion exists between these characters and depth; 

 i.e., the deeper the fish, the darker the color and 

 the more angular the profile. The shallow Fort 

 Pierce specimens have silvery sides and very little 

 pigmentation on the vertical fins. They are also 

 definitely "popeyed," and have uniform dorsal and 

 anal profiles. Deep-bodied specimens, such as the 

 Capers Inlet, S.C. fish, have much dark pigmen- 

 tation on the body and on the vertical fins. The 

 eyes are "normal" and the dorsal profile is slightly 

 concave on the head and strongly convex over the 

 procumbent spines. Another break in dorsal 

 profile sometimes occurs near the last dorsal 

 spine. The ventral profile usually has a break at 

 the third anal spine. 



The greatest extreme in depth, color, and dorsal 

 and anal profile was observed in a 59.5-mni. 

 specimen from Little River, on the North Caro- 

 lina-South Carolina border (fig. 13). As men- 

 tioned earlier, dark body coloration is usually 

 restricted to smaller fish. This Little River fish, 

 with a depth of 75.4% S.L., has a greatly accentu- 

 ated profile, is very dark brown on the body, and 

 possesses almost black vertical fins. 



Beebe and Tee-Van (1928: p. 115) referring to 

 T.Jalcatus, observed — 



Our fish differs from the photograph (Phite XXXIII) 

 of a 48-mm. fish given by Meek and Hildebrand in that 

 the depression over the eyes is not so marked. In all 

 the specimens the profile from the nostrils to the dorsal 

 fin is almost straight, with a slight convexity on the 

 posterior part. 



Meek and Hildebrand 's (1925: Plate XXXIII, 



