440 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



a 37.0-mm. specimen (fig. 29) had about 15 teeth 

 on each half of the premaxillary. These varied 

 in size and pointed obliquely downward and to- 

 ward the back of the mouth. They were freely 

 movable in their sockets, but did not dislodge when 

 reased with a probe. At 45 mm., many small teeth 

 were evident, but the upper lip was beginning to 

 overgrow and mask them. The upper lip con- 

 tinued this growth over the teeth, and in a 47-mm. 

 specimen the lip had to be turned back to reveal 

 the presence of three teeth on the left premaxillary 

 bone and five on the right. No teeth were evident 

 in larger specimens, even when the lip was turned 

 back, but when the right premaxillary bone of a 

 106.5-mm. specimen was dissected and stained, 

 two teeth were revealed (fig. 30). There were 

 also two tooth sockets medial to the teeth. The 

 premaxillary bone of a 154-mm. specimen was 

 dissected and stained, but neither teeth nor tooth 

 sockets were found. 



Loxoev jaw. — No teeth were visible on the lower 

 jaw of any specimen of M. auratus below 21 mm. 

 A 37-mm. specimen had several small canine teeth 

 in a single row toward the back of the mouth. 



Figure 29. — Cleared and stained left premaxillary of 

 37.0-mm. Mullus auratus. Line equals 0.5 mm. 



Figure 30. — Drawing of dissected and stained right premaxillary of 106.5-mm. Mullus auratus. 



These teeth are irregularly biserial anteriorly — 

 the adult arrangement of the small, inconspicuous 

 teeth in the lower jaw. 



Vomerine and palatine. — M. aurahis has the 

 characteristic tooth patch of the genus AIuUus, 

 formed by the joining of the vomer and palatine 

 bones (Lachner, 1954) . This character alone will 

 sei-ve to distinguish tliis species from the other 

 western North Atlantic mulloid fishes. 



At 10.9 mm. there was a single palato-vomerine 

 bone patch on each side of the median line of 



the roof of the mouth, but no teeth were evident. 

 A l7-mm. specimen had the bone patches, sepa- 

 rated by 0.1 mm. at their closest point (the an- 

 terior ends), with three teeth on one patch and 

 two on the other. A 37.0-mm. specimen had about 

 15 coarse, peglike, slightly pointed teeth present 

 on each patch (fig. 31). These are similar to the 

 tooth patches of the adult except for number of 

 teeth. The stained and dissected palato-vomerine 

 tooth patches of a 154-mm. specimen had about 

 55 teeth per patch. 



