Zoology. ] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Fishes. 



midline of the body, from about the vertical from the anterior margin of the anal 

 fin to a little beyond the line of its posterior termination, a tooth-brush-like cluster 

 of very long 1 , slender, bristle-shaped spines, 6 or 7 wide in the middle, and as high 

 as the 2nd anal spine, stand out perpendicular to the sides of the body, some of 

 them straight, and others with the tips bent. Color : Back and upper half of sides 

 and head rich yellowish-bronze-green as ground color, with 7 or 8 irregular, longi- 

 tudinal rows of short streaks and oval spots of sapphire-blue, and very numerous 

 intermediate dots of dark brown ; 2 or 3 narrow, olive streaks round the mouth ; 

 ground color of lower half of sides and belly pale opaline-blue, mottled and dotted 

 with the yellowish-green and brown of back, but paler, and with paler, similar, 

 irregular blue spots and short streaks ; a long, oval, dull, saffron-yellow patch 

 extends from over front of anal fin nearly to base of caudal, from the upper portion 

 of which arises the "tooth-brush" set of spinose filaments of the same dull yellow 

 mottled with brown ; below this yellow patch to base of anal fin the ground color is 

 opal-purple with small, irregular, brown spots ; three long, narrow, brown streaks, 

 about their own width apart, run along over the base of anal fin, the space between 

 the lower pair sapphire-blue; caudal fin dull pale yellowish-olive with darker 

 brownish rays; dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins with pale, almost colorless, yellowish 

 membrane, and darker yellowish-olive rays; anterior dorsal spine blackish-olive; 

 iris brown. Measurements: Total length from snout to end of caudal, 1 foot. 

 Proportional measurements to total length as unity : Snout to anterior edge of orbit, 

 to 4 o > greatest depth of body, to 5 oj greatest thickness behind head, -y£j~, diameter 

 of eye, T £o ; height of 1st dorsal spine, -j- 1 ^ ; distance of base from edge of upper 

 teeth, T 2 A ; length of branchial slit, T $<j ; length of pectoral, ^^ ; length of 2nd 

 dorsal, -j 3 ^ ; greatest height of ditto, -^q ; from snout to anterior ray of ditto, -^^ ; 

 from snout to anterior ray of anal, -j^ ; length of anal, -fwu '■> greatest height of 

 ditto, -j 1 ^ ; length of caudal, $fo ; height of tooth-brush spines, T § ? . Number of 

 spines in space of 3 lines about middle of body, 5. 



Reference. — Aleuterius Browni, Rich. Voy. E. and T. Fish, p. 68 = Mona- 

 canthus lineo-guttatus, Hollard Monog*. des Balist. Ann. des Sc. Nat., 1854, Zool. 

 v. 2, p. 352. 



Those species of Monacanthus having a brush-like cluster of 

 slender, bristly, elongate spines on each side of hinder part of body 

 and tail are called " Tooth-brush Leather-jackets," from these 

 curious developments being about the size and shape of a coarse 

 tooth-brush. These filaments are obviously a great prolongation 

 of the minute spines of other parts of the body. This strange 

 character is only fully developed in old males. In the present 

 species the dorsal and anal fins are unusually high, and the 

 spinose teeth on the anterior ridges of the first dorsal spine 

 unusually large. The curious mushroom-like soft, fleshy, granu- 

 lated tips to the skin spines in the fresh specimens shrink so as to 

 expose the simple sharp points with their large stellated base, 

 when dried. 



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