I42 PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



Pseudupeneus maculatus (Bloch). Red goatfish 



(Plate 19, figures 1, 2) 



This fish is diurnal and appears to eat almost exclusively small animals it dis- 

 covers by probing in loose sand with its sensitive barbels, in the smaller patches 

 between coral stacks and Thalassia, and on alga- and gorgonian-covered bottom. 

 Shallow water is its preferred habitat, but it goes down into the 10-fathom chan- 

 nels at Tortugas, and Poey reported it (Memorias, vol. 1, 1853, p. 224) from a 

 depth of almost 30 fathoms. 



It normally occurs singly, or in small groups of 4 or 5, and is commonly trailed 

 by Halichoeres bivittatus, Thalassemia adolescents, and Ocyurus, which follow to 

 secure darting crustaceans routed out but lost by the goatfish. The young, 50 

 mm. or so in length, are abundant in June. To the length of 125 mm. they are 

 found occasionally in the waste of the tern rookeries. 



Its popular name conveys a false impression, for it is markedly red only in 

 death or as it comes from deep water. Living and moving about, as far down as 

 it may be seen in shallow diving, it is usually in a sandy-gray phase with three 

 squarish dark brown or black spots on the side. In Thalassia it is decidedly 

 greenish. Its pattern is very changeable, however, and is altered almost imme- 

 diately if the fish comes to rest on the bottom, when in extreme cases it may be 

 strongly banded. Another phase frequently observed in the swimming young of 

 about 75 mm. in dishes in the laboratory has not been observed on the reef; in 

 this a sharply defined brown line runs from the snout through the pupil to the 

 base of the caudal. The stripe tends to break or does break up into spots when 

 the fish rests, and may become diffuse bands, as has been stated. 



The stomach is little specialized in the direction so marked in Mulloidichthys 

 mariinicus. Its ascending limb is expanded a little, its walls are slightly thick- 

 ened, and it bears 10 pyloric caeca on either side. 



Jordan and Evermann (Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 47, pt. 1, 1896, p. 858) stated 

 that the teeth in the upper jaw are "uniserial, or occasionally irregularly biserial, 

 with the outer teeth turned outward." It may be said more adequately, however, 

 that at lengths exceeding 200 mm. P. maculatus regularly develops projecting, 

 anterolateral curved canines above the main tooth row. 



Atlantic coast of tropical America northward to Florida. W. H. L. 



Upeneus parvus Poey 



South of Tortugas this fish was taken repeatedly in 40 to 60 fathoms. One haul 

 yielded 11 specimens, the largest individual obtained being 220 mm. long. 



The ground color of fresh specimens is reddish, spotted with yellow, and a 

 yellow streak as wide as the pupil extends from upper margin of the gill cleft to 

 base of caudal. 



In more than 80 years, since its description by Poey, this species has been 

 known only from his record, emended only by implication. Its teeth are small, 

 and are present in both jaws. In the upper they are in a single row laterally, in 

 the lower irregularly in two or three rows toward the symphysis and three or four 



