1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS $y 



Apogon quadrisquamatus Longley 



Apogon quadrisquamatus Longley, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Year Book No. 33, 1934, p. 257 — 

 Tortugas, Florida. Longley and Hildebrand, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. 517, 1940, p. 229, 

 fig- 3- 



Apogon maculatus (Poey) 



(Plate 3, figure 1) 



? Apogon americanum Castelnau, Anim. Amer. Sud, Poiss., 1855, p. 3, pi. 3, fig. 2 — Bahia. 



Monoprion maculatus Poey, Memorias, vol. 2, i860, p. 123 — Cuba. 



Apogon sellicauda Evermann and Marsh, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 20, pt. 1, 1900 



(1902), p. 143, fig. 40 — Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. 

 Apogon brasilianus Gilbert, Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 2, 1900, p. 168, pi. 9, fig. 3 — 



Mamanguape, Brazil. 



This species, perhaps not distinct from Apogon americanum Castelnau, is the 

 most common of its genus at Tortugas. It is indeed far commoner than one 

 might suppose if observation were limited to daylight hours, as the fish avoid the 

 light. On the reef flats east of Bird Key, or off Loggerhead Key, any greatly cor- 

 roded skeleton of the larger corals may have 10 or more young lurking beneath 

 it. Full-grown individuals are commonest in the coral stacks, although with 

 dynamite they may be taken on bottom only moderately rocky. By day only an 

 occasional glimpse of one deep down in the crevices between the heads may be 

 seen, but at dusk as many as 4 have been observed together fully exposed, where 

 none was seen earlier. How far afield they wander at night is not known. 



Ground color red, paler at night: in life with a short black longitudinal stripe 

 through eye, slightly less than width of pupil, sharply defined by white lines on 

 iris, and by pale streaks on side of snout and head; details of these markings dis- 

 appearing at death. A black spot usually fully half as large as eye under dorsal; 

 a dark saddle of variable extent and intensity on caudal peduncle; no color in 

 mouth; peritoneum white. 



A small shrimp was taken from the stomach of one specimen, and it itself was 

 twice recognized in the stomach contents of Lutianus griseus and L. analis. 



The species practices oral gestation. A male (sex determined by dissection) 

 carrying eggs with embryos in its mouth was obtained on June 5, and a female 

 dredged in 40 fathoms on July 15 had eggs exuding from her body, indicating 

 the time of breeding. 



D. Y\-l,g l / 2 ; A. 11,8%; gill rakers 5 or 6 4- 14; scales in two rows above lateral 

 line, or three if the small scales at base of dorsal are included; 24 scales in lateral 

 line to base of caudal; 12 in series up and forward between anus and lateral line; 

 five rows above lateral line on anterior part of caudal peduncle, six below 

 (median rows excluded). 



Identification of the Tortugas specimens with Poey's maculatus rests upon 

 their almost perfect agreement with the original description, and upon compari- 

 son of specimens in museums. The size of the type, 90 mm. long, is almost con- 

 clusive, since other species of the genus in the vicinity of Havana do not seem to 

 grow that large. The type was female, and there is in the Museum of Compara- 



