250 



Fishery Bulletin 89(2). 199! 



3a Dorsal and anal fins with an alternating series of dark blotches and unpigmented areas; ocular- 

 side lower jaw without fleshy ridge on posterior portion; snout pointed; distance between upper 

 eye and dorsal fin base usually slightly smaller than twice eye diameter; body with 9-15, narrow, 

 dark crossbands; eye usually 9.0-10.0% of HL. (Caribbean Sea) S. earibbeanus new species 



3b Dorsal and anal fins usually uniformly pigmented, without obvious pigmented blotches; ocular- 

 side lower jaw usually with pronounced fleshy ridge on posterior portion; snout squarish; distance 

 from upper eye to dorsal fin base usually larger than twice eye diameter; body uniformly colored 

 or with 4-9 faint crossbands; eye 6.4-11.0% HL, usually only 6.4-9.4% HL 4 



4a Eye usually only 6.4-9.5% HL; total vertebrae 49-51; dorsal fin rays 91-97; anal fin rays 75-81; 



longitudinal scales 79-89. (Caribbean Sea to southern Brazil) 



S. plagusia (Schneider, in Bloch and Schneider) 



4b Eye 7.0-11.0% HL, usually 8.0-10.0% HL; total vertebrae usually 47-49; dorsal fin rays 86-93; 

 anal fin rays 70-78; longitudinal scales 66-83. (Gulf of Mexico and southeastern United States) 

 S. eivitatium Ginsburg 



Table 1 



Frequency distributions of predominant patterns of interdigitation of dor- 

 sal pterygiophores and neural spines (ID pattern) observed in five western 

 Atlantic species of the Symphurus plagusia complex. 



Species 



civitatium 



plagusia 



tessellatus 



oculellus 



earibbeanus 



ID pattern 



1-3-3 1-3-4 1-4-2 1-4-3 



1-4-4 



4 



10 

 1 



6 

 1 

 16 

 2 

 3 



19 

 2 



11 

 1 



127 

 32 



177 

 33 

 69 



1 

 12 



1-5-2 1-5-3 



3 



1 



14 



1 



Table 2 



Frequency distributions of the numbers of caudal 

 fin rays for five western Atlantic species of the Sym- 

 phurus plagusia complex. 



Species 



civitatium 



plagusia 



tessellatus 



oculellus 



earibbeanus 



Caudal fin ray count 



10 



11 



8 

 2 

 11 

 4 

 2 



12 



163 

 39 



216 

 49 

 80 



13 



