1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 57 



Hippichthys albirostris (Heckel) 



One male, 182 mm. long, carrying young, was dredged in the 10-fathom 

 channel east of Loggerhead bank. 



D. 22 on 1 + 4 rings; rings 18 + 30, brood pouch covering 19. Median keel on 

 snout in two sections; this keel, the supraorbital keels, and the nuchal and 

 occipital keels all of moderate height, and very distinctly serrate; the short and 

 slightly oblique ridge on side of rostrum, the suprabranchial and opercular ridges, 

 and two on base of pectoral all less strongly toothed. Short, mostly simple cirri, 

 generally less than half diameter of eye, on some keels of head, and on throat, 

 trunk, and tail. 



General color brown; snout sharply white; oblique streaks of white under 

 throat and on gill covers; fine pattern of radiating light and dark lines on en- 

 velope of eye and on iris; ground color crossed by faint and diffuse gray bands, 

 the first on postorbital part of head, three on trunk, and seven on tail. 



W. H. L. 



Two additional specimens, females, 105 and 145 mm. long, are included in the 

 Tortugas collection. Comparing the larger female with the large male described 

 by Dr. Longley, it is evident that the female is much more distinctly marked 

 with light gray crossbands, and that the cirri on the head are much longer. The 

 following proportions and enumerations are based on the female: Head 9.2. 

 Depth in head 2.4; eye 6.5; snout 2.4; interorbital 7.2; length of dorsal base 1.1; 

 pectoral 5. D. 22, over % ~~r~ 5 rings; P. 14; rings 17 + 29. 



The sharply angular, quadrate body, which is scarcely deeper than wide, the 

 abruptly white snout, the grayish crossbands, the oblique pale lines under the 

 head, and the radiating lines on the eye are good recognition marks. 



Florida to Brazil. S. F. H. 



Hippichthys brachycephalus (Poey) 



Syngnathus brachycephalus Poey, Repertorio, vol. 2, 1868, p. 444 — Havana. 

 Corythroichthys cayorum Evermann and Kendall, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 17, 1897 

 (1898), p. 128, pi. 7, fig. 7 — Key West, Florida. 



This fish is common on grassy flats about Long Key and Bird Key reef. It is 

 not difficult to secure at Tortugas specimens of Corythoichthys cayorum which 

 agree closely with the precise account of Syngnathus brachycephalus by Poey. 



In a male of the same length as the type of S. brachycephalus, the number of 

 rings in trunk and tail, the number of dorsal rays, and the ratio of preanal to 

 postanal length, of thickness to segmental width, and of eye to preorbital and 

 postorbital length of head are all as stated in the original description. The dimen- 

 sions or enumerations as observed (for comparison, Poey's corresponding records 

 are placed in parentheses), are as follows: Head 4.0 (4.3); depth equals width 

 of 3.5 (4.0) segments; dorsal fin over i l /i -f- 4 (i 1 /* 4~ 3) rings. The range of 

 variation in specimens examined is as follows: D. 21 to 24, on i 1 /? to 2 -+- 4 or 5 

 rings; P. 13 to 14; C. 10; rings 17 + 26 to 27; brood pouch on 18 to 20 rings. 



