i 9 4i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 22I 



Filamentous algae constitute at least a part of the food, as several individuals 

 were seen swimming in from the ship channel to the dock at Fort Jefferson, 

 taking mouthfuls of the algae, and swimming back with strands of the plant 

 trailing behind them. 



West Indies to Florida. W. H. L. 



Pseudoscarus coelestinus (Cuvier and Valenciennes) 



Scams coelestinus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. nat. poiss., vol. 14, 1839, p. 134 — St. 



Thomas. 

 Scants rostratus Poey, Memorias, vol. 2, i860, p. 221 — Cuba. 

 Pseudoscarus simplex Poey, Repertorio, vol. 1, 1865, p. 185 — Havana. 

 Pseudoscarus plumbeus Bean, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 25, 1912, p. 125— Bermuda. 



The type of Scants coelestinus is a mounted specimen in good condition and 

 recognizable immediately, though some of its light blue markings have turned 

 green. Pseudoscarus plumbeus and S. simplex are quite the same thing. A 

 mounted specimen of the latter, 690 mm. long, received from Poey, is in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



Scarus rostratus is a name which has been in synonymy under Pseudoscarus 

 guacamaia, which seems incorrect, as the combination of very bright blue with 

 blue to nearly black on the head, together with blue teeth, leaves little doubt 

 regarding its identity with P. coelestinus. 



This is much the commoner of the two Tortugas species of Pseudoscarus. It 

 may be seen sometimes about the ledges of beach rock, commonly about large 

 coral heads south of the eastern lighthouse dock, also on the western side of 

 White Shoal, and most commonly on the outer face of Bird Key reef and on the 

 rugged seaward front of the junction between Long and Bush keys, always 

 accompanied by large Hepatus coeruleus, whose blue-black is the same as their 

 own ground color. 



The shade of P. coelestinus and the pattern of light blue markings on dark 

 blue is apparently unchangeable. W. H. L. 



To the foregoing apparently incomplete account may be added from Dr. 

 Longley's field notes the description of the color of a fresh specimen of unstated 

 size: Slate color above, becoming ashy gray on sides and belly; most of scales 

 with light blue marks in center, these larger and more intensely blue on sides; 

 dorsal, anal, anterior margin of ventral, and posterior margin of caudal edged 

 with bright blue; jaws dark blue, narrowly white on the cutting edge; lips nar- 

 rowly dark-margined; snout and throat light blue with a slate-colored strap 

 under the chin; and irregular blue markings on the occpital region. 



Dr. Longley has the following concerning the food: A bit of material found 

 in the pharyngeal grinding apparatus consisted of coarse sand, far coarser than 

 that found in the intestine, and fragments of algae of perhaps a half-dozen 

 genera. The only animal remains observed was one small amphipod. 



West Indies, Bermuda, and Florida. S. F. H. 



