i94i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS ^ 



orbital; one or more on lower preopercular spines; several moderate ones along 

 lateral line; and a few inconspicuous ones along side below lateral line. Very 

 characteristic of the species are the leaflike cirri along the upper border of the 

 opaque skin enclosing the eye. From the bases of several, dermal structures 

 extend on the surface of the cornea, resembling a series of flat cirri with narrow 

 stalks and rounded, expanded tips closely adherent to the eye's face. These 

 dermal structures on the eye are diagnostic. The short, flat, and simple cirri of 

 the sides, and the disproportion between these and the larger, crenulate or 

 toothed units of the lateral-line series, also are characteristic. 



From lack of material authoritatively named, Scorpaena occipitalis has been 

 known only through Poey's record. Scorpaena occipitalis, however, is a synonym 

 of inermis, or is the same as calcarata, or is a species still known only from Poey's 

 description. The shallowness of the pit excludes other possibilities. However, the 

 2 parallel suprascapular spines, the elevation of the orbital margins to form a 

 deep interorbital groove, and the 2d anal spine approximately equal to the 

 diameter of the eye, which is contained 3.5 times in the head, appear to remove 

 calcarata from need of further consideration. Its color would seem to do so too, 

 for from Tortugas specimens of calcarata one might infer almost certainly that 

 that species never shows a phase marbled with yellowish. One may note also that 

 calcarata appears so far to have been collected nowhere south of the Florida 

 Strait. In the respects mentioned, and in others, inermis corresponds very closely 

 to Poey's description of occipitalis. From the known occurrence of inermis at 

 Havana, from the agreement of occipitalis with inermis in rarity, size, and gen- 

 eral type of coloration, from the possession by both of a narrow, deep interorbital 

 groove, 2 parallel suprascapular spines, a 2d anal spine equal in length to the 

 diameter of the eye, and an eye of equal size, it seems right to refer Poey's species 

 at least tentatively to the synonymy of inermis. 



Scorpaena inermis is rather rare, appearing occasionally among fishes seined 

 on grass flats about Long Key and inside Bird Key reef. It is a small species, 

 sexually mature at a length of 80 mm. or less. 



In coloration this is perhaps the most readily changeable of local species of 

 Scorpaena. In some phases its color is rich and variegated. In others it is almost 

 white, or pale over the head only, with diffuse duskiness on the body and more 

 evident pattern on the fins. It has power to show in an instant blotched browns 

 and olive, with red or maroon on the fins, but in all phases its breast, axilla, and 

 belly remain plain white. W. H. L. 



The collection contains 9 specimens, 55 to 95 mm. long. This species is rather 

 close to S. calcarata. The chief preopercular spine, however, is much shorter in 

 inermis, wherein it does not reach more than halfway to opercular margin; the 

 peculiar dermal structures on the opaque skin on upper part of eye, extending 

 down over the cornea, to which they adhere, as already stated, are diagnostic. In 

 color, the preserved specimens of this species are darker, having more brown, 

 which is in blotches and often in crossbars. 



West Indies to southern Florida. S. F. H. 



