i94i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS Iz ,! 



Family MULLIDAE. Surmullets or Goatfishes 



Dr. Longley (Carnegie Inst. Wash. Year Book No. 34, 1935, p. 283) stated: 

 "Species Jordan, Evermann and Clark (Chec/{ List, 1930, 343) refer to as 

 Upeneus maculatus, U . martinicus and U . parvus are no two of them conge- 

 neric." In the accounts that follow Longley placed the first species mentioned in 

 the genus Pseudupeneus, the second in Muttoidichthys, and the third in Upeneus. 



This generic classification clearly was based on differences in dentition, which 

 Dr. Longley described in detail for two of the local genera (and species), but 

 not for the third one. In the key to the genera the description of the teeth of 

 Muttoidichthys was inserted by me with only a few specimens in hand. These 

 descriptions of the other genera are Dr. Longley's accounts, which were checked, 

 however, against specimens from Tortugas. S. F. H. 



Key to the Genera 



a. No teeth on vomer or palatines 



b. Teeth in jaws anteriorly in three series, reduced to two laterally 



and to one posteriorly, all small and bluntish Mulloidichthys 



bb. Teeth in jaws uniserial in young, in adults (200 mm. or more 

 in length) with extra projecting anterolateral canines above 



main row Pseudupeneus 



aa. Teeth on vomer and palatines; a single row laterally on upper jaw, 

 two or three rows anteriorly, and three or four posteriorly on lower 

 jaw Upeneus 



Mulloidichthys martinicus (Cuvier and Valenciennes). Yellow goatfish 



(Plate 18, figures 1, 2) 



Upeneus martinicus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist nat. poiss., vol. 3, 1829, p. 483 — 



Martinique. 

 Upeneus flavo-vittatus Poey, Memorias, vol. 1, 1853, p. 224 — Cuba. 

 Mulloidichthys martinicus Longley, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Year Book No. 34, 1935, p. 283. 



In marked contrast with the red goatfish, the yellow one is usually found about 

 coral stacks passing the day in idle schools. True, an occasional fish may be seen 

 during daylight searching desultorily in the sand for food with its barbels, or 

 even plowing in it with snout buried almost to the eyes. This activity, however, 

 nets next to nothing, as appears from examination and comparison of stomach 

 contents. Examples taken early in the morning almost invariably have their 

 stomachs well filled with annelids, both sedentary and free living, together with 

 crabs, small ophiurans, and an occasional small fish. In contrast with these, 

 examples secured at 5:00 p.m. had no identifiable food in the alimentary tract. 



Color yellow-olive, countershaded, with yellow dorsal fins and a yellow stripe 

 narrowly margined with lighter color running from the pupil to the dorsal lobe 

 of the caudal, where it expands to cover the entire fin. The pattern is permanent, 

 but its shade is changeable, being much paler over sandy bottom near coral heads 

 than among the heads themselves. 



Known from Panama, West Indies, and Florida. W. H. L. 



