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PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



Concerning the two color phases Dr. Longley remarked, "I note that the fish 

 so commonly show the banded pattern while resting on the bottom of the 

 aquarium, and the striped one when swimming, that one might almost say that 

 these two patterns are characteristic of a resting and an active stage." It was noted 

 many times that the fish changed their shade according to the bottom on which 

 they happened to be. If the fish were over a dark bottom they were darker and 

 showed more reddish and pinkish color than when hovering over a light bottom. 

 This color adaptation was tested in the laboratory, where the fish also responded. 



"Mouth pushing," wherein two individuals meet with mouths wide open, was 

 observed a few times. This mouth pushing is reported herein also for other 

 species, especially for the grunts. 



This species, according to the few stomach contents examined, seems to feed 

 chiefly on fish. One individual had attempted to eat a pipefish, of which fully a 

 sixth of the length projected from its mouth. 



Ripe fish were reported twice, on July 26 and 27, 1929: 4 males, 85 to 125 mm. 

 long, and 1 female, 82 mm. long. The ovary of this female contained "surpris- 

 ingly few and surprisingly large eggs, each with adhering threads at one pole." 



The scales in this species are scarcely reduced in size in advance of the dorsal, 

 there being only four or five oblique series opposite the mid-line of the nape. 

 According to Mowbray, whose paper is cited above, the two longitudinal dark 

 bands are constant. 



Atlantic coast of tropical America, northward to Florida and sometimes to 

 North Carolina. S. F. H. 



Halichoeres radiatus (Linnaeus). Puddingwife 



Labrus radiatus Linnaeus, Syst. nat., 10th ed., 1758, p. 288 — Bahamas (based on Catesby). 

 lridio elegans Bean, Field Columbian Mus., Zool. Ser., vol. 7, 1906, p. 65, fig. 6 — Bermuda. 

 Halichoeres irideus Starks, Stanford Univ. Pub., Univ. Ser., 1913, p. 60, pi. 8 — Natal, 

 Brazil. Parr, Bull. Bingham Oceanog. Coll., vol. 3, art. 4, 1930, p. 84. 



Not common. Much the largest of the local species of its genus. 



Juvenile coloration very bright, becoming more sober with age. In a specimen 

 45 mm. long the dominant color is dusky orange becoming more yellow on 

 snout, throat, and breast; a pale blue band with average width of eye, extending 

 from ventral margin of orbit to base of caudal; a transverse line of the same 

 color before dorsal origin, two under spinous dorsal, one under spines 5 to 7, and 

 another at end of base of dorsal; pectorals and ventrals pinkish; dorsal and anal 

 red, with blue margins, and with a more or less continuous series of blue spots at 

 base; a large ocellated black spot on anterior half of soft dorsal, extending on 

 back; an unocellated black spot, nearly as large as eye, above lateral line at base 

 of caudal. 



lridio elegans Bean, as has been observed by Mowbray (Fauna bermudensis, 

 No. 1, 1931, no pagination), is a transition stage in which the finer markings of 

 the young fish have disappeared and the dorsal ocellus has been resolved into a 

 dark saddle. W. H. L. 



