3U 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



138. Megalocottus platycephalus (Pallas). 



No. 2401, a female specimen 13 inches long, with minute eggs, collected at Tareinski Harbor, 

 Kamchatka, June 21, 1900. This specimen appears to be M. platycephalus, though differing in some 

 respects from current descriptions. 



Head 3 in length; depth 5; eye 6.2 in head; snout 4; maxillary 2; mandible 1.6; interorbital 3.3; 

 dorsal ix-14; anal 12; pectoral 16; caudal 11, 8 of them forked; ventral 3; lateral line 36. 



Body depressed anteriorly. Bubterete posteriorly, dorsal outline nearly straight and horizontal from 

 tip of snout to tip of spinous dorsal when depressed, thence gradually sloping to base of caudal; ventral 

 outline sloping rapidly upward from tip of lower 1 jaw to gill-slits, from thence nearly straight; lower 

 jaw long and projecting, cleft of mouth nearly vertical; contour viewed from above, coffin-shaped , or 

 long kite-shaped, widening rapidly from the tip of the truncate lower jaw to the preopercular spines 

 where it is broadest, from thence tapering gradually to the stoutish caudal peduncle. 



Head short, broad, and flat; a large flat, sunken hexagonal area extending from the nasal spines 

 to the occiput, bounded on the sides by the high diverging supraocular and converging parietal ridges; 

 the postocular tubercle high, large and blunt, pointing inward; occipital tubercle prominent, pear- 

 shaped, pointing backward, epding in a stout sharp spine; preopercular spines covered with skin, 

 upper longer than eye, curved upward and inward, second about half as long as first, third spine promi- 

 nent but blunt, fourth strong, pointing downward and forward; suborbital stay narrow, striate and 

 curved, upper opercular spine short, sharp, stout, almost concealed, pointing backward and downward 

 at the end of a high ridge, the round flap reaching considerably beyond the spine; 2 prominent tubercles 



Fig. 73.— Mngalocottus platycephalus (Pallas). 



at top of gill-slit, these sometimes spinous, and one or more stout suprascapular spines; a strong humeral 

 spine; teeth in strong villiform bands in jaw, a large patch on vomer, none on palatines; tongue large, 

 rounded and prominent; a well-developed symphesial knob; maxillary extending to posterior margin 

 of pupil; a deep cleft behind last gill, slit minute. Spinous dorsal beginning a distance about equal 

 to snout behind tip of gill-flap, its base 1.5 in head, its fourth spine longest, 2.5 in head, its margin 

 rounded, distance between it and soft dorsal equal to eye, latter high, largest ray 1.5 in head, its base 

 1.1 in head, its margin rounded, somewhat acute behind, the last rays somewhat produced; caudal 

 truncate, 1.5 in head; origin of anal below fourth dorsal ray, base 1.3 in head, rays stout, margin some- 

 what emarginate (scalloped ), longest rays about 2.1 in head; pectoral very broad, the lowest rays short 

 and stout, membrane between them deeply incised, general outline rounded, upper ray short. I>ase 

 procurrent along the edge of gill opening, length slightly longer than head, tip barely reaching origin 

 of anal; ventrals acute, outer ray stout, inner produced, length 1.2 in head, tips not reaching vent by 

 a distance greater than snout; skin naked; top of head warty, sides naked, no flaps anywhere; a row 

 of prominent prickly tubercles between lateral line and dorsal; a few irregular small tubercles in a 

 row beneath lateral line posteriorly. 



Color in alcohol: Above uniform brown, sides below olivaceous, belly white: lower lip and chin 

 uniform black; membranes of upper lip dusky, lower side of lower lip white, the exposed portion all 

 black; isthmus and edge of gill-cavity dusky; vertical fins irregularly mottled and blotched white 

 and brown; inside of pectoral marked with broad brown and narrower white crossbars, outside similarly 

 marked but notso distinctly; ventral with 2 or 3 irregular brown crossbars with narrow white interspaces; 

 peritoneum white. 



