i94i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS jg 7 



spots persist in fish of breeding age, and less distinctly in fish which have attained 

 their maximum size. 



The breeding season is probably a long one, since during one summer the 

 apparent young of the preceding season may be observed in a considerable range 

 of sizes from perhaps an inch upward. A female with conspicuous friable roe 

 was taken on July 7. The guarded eggs were found as early as June 7 and as late 

 as August 2, though breeding apparently extends far beyond this last-named 

 date, as is shown below. 



The nesting site selected for the eggs found July 17 was near the top of an 

 isolated Orbicella head about 6 feet high, in 10 to 12 feet of water. The eggs were 

 affixed to the naked branches of a gorgonian skeleton still standing where it had 

 grown. The two chief branches bore most of them. Those on the one had been 

 very recently deposited, those on the other were near hatching. The two branches 

 were rather uniformly covered by the eggs for a length of 5 or 6 inches each. 

 At the time of deposition, they had manifestly been united by their polar fila- 

 ments in strands like plaited ropes of onions or firecrackers, and were disposed 

 chiefly in series running lengthwise on their support. On August 2 another 

 deposit was found smeared on bryozoans encrusting coral in the mouth of a hole 

 leading deep into a great isolated head, and August 21 several fish were seen 

 dashing out wildly from fixed posts. It seemed as though the height of the breed- 

 ing season had perhaps arrived. 



The egg measures 0.9 by 0.5 mm., and is distinctly broader basally than distally, 

 its diameters at a distance of one-quarter and three-quarters the length of the 

 polar axis from the point of attachment being to one another as 8 to 7. The pro- 

 toplasm nearly fills the chorionic envelope. The egg is grayish and coarsely 

 granular, and usually contains a large orange oil globule, measuring 0.15 to 0.18 

 mm., with many smaller ones up to 0.002 mm. in diameter, the large one occa- 

 sionally being replaced by two, and very variable in position. The color of the 

 newly laid eggs, as seen in mass, is buff. 



The guardians of the eggs were not secured. The length of the one first found 

 was between two-thirds and three-quarters that of the largest one seen. Its blue 

 spotting was brilliant on a ground of brown inclining to violet, its tail bright 

 yellow. It kept watch with all the alertness of Pomacentrus and Abudejduj. The 

 young of Thalassoma bifasciatum were attacked with spirit, as if particularly 

 dangerous. 



West Indies to Florida. W. H. L. 



Family LABRIDAE 



Lachnolaimus maximus (Walbaum). Hogfish 



(Plate 25, figures 1, 2) 



The hogfish is common and widely distributed over the reefs, occurring singly 

 or in twos and threes. The haunts of this species are the comparatively open 

 spaces. Coral stacks have no attraction for it; it is rare on the large areas of bare 

 sand, and occurs most commonly wherever gorgonians grow well, beneath 

 which it usually rests. 



