1941 CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS 2 m 1 



These fish frequent the greater coral stacks, but are sometimes found on gor- 

 gonian-covered rocky bottom. They "thread" concealed passages, slipping 

 through quickly to stare from new ones, when driven from old vantage points. 

 In haste they dart to cover head first, at leisure they may withdraw tail foremost. 



Distinct from Rupiscartes atlanticus as R. macclurei appears when Silvester's 

 colored plate is compared with the text of earlier descriptions, there seems to be 

 no sound reason for regarding the two as distinct, as the figure only shows the 

 young male in a color phase in which it was often seen. 



Blennius truncatus Poey must also be included in the synonymy of R. atlanticus 

 on the evidence of the original description. The vertical front, small mouth, 

 fringed lips, 5-parted digitate tentacle at the border of the anterior nostril, the 

 simple one above the eye, the 2 filiform ones on a common stalk on either side 

 the nape, surely identify it. Reference to the truncate caudal with prominent 

 angles (in the female), mention of 1 spine only in the anal fin — which is all one 

 would see in that sex without dissection — the concordant details regarding bodily 

 proportions, color, etc., support the inference. 



This species differs notably in several respects from most of those assigned with 

 it to the genus Alticus. The sperm ducts open separately in a pair of elevated 

 points at the outer ventral margin on either side of the flattened urogenital 

 papilla. In the female the 1st anal spine is shorter than the 2d and hidden, except 

 for its tip, beneath a smooth, soft, triangular fleshy pad extending from the anus 

 to the tip of the 2d spine. In the male the 2 anal spines bear each a conspicuous 

 rugose growth, illustrated in plate 31, figure 2. These secondary sexual organs of 

 the male are directly comparable with those of such related genera as Blennius 

 and Hypleurochilus, but are distinctive in shape and proportionately of much 

 greater size. Nothing of the same general sort occurs in Alticus, even in the 

 breeding season. It seems proper, therefore, to retain the name Rupiscartes for 

 atlanticus, together with other species whose adult males may have similar organs. 



In crevices and on the living coral over which the fish sometimes creep, both 

 sexes are commonly of a dark greenish brown, with the lower lip, the dorsal fin 

 above a line from its origin to the tip of the 20th fin support, the thickened tips 

 of the lower pectoral rays, and the upper angle of the caudal red. In the male the 

 median rays are longer and darker. On bare, white, eroded faces of the corals, or 

 on the gray rocky bottom, they become paler brown over the fore part of the 

 body, cream-colored posteriorly, with anal fin brown-bordered, or brown- 

 bordered with base of chestnut in the males. In pails or aquaria they sometimes 

 show a banded phase, which may be irregular, or a spotted pattern in waxy gray 

 and chocolate. 



The breeding season includes at least June and July. The eggs, guarded by 

 males, were found in vacant burrows of Lithodomus in dead coral faces, and 

 spread on the opposed bases of two palmate fronds of millepore coral standing 

 in a cluster on the side of an Orbicella head. In two instances eggs in two stages 

 of development were present, the younger in late cleavage or process of germ- 

 ring formation, and the older with embryos near hatching. The deposition of the 

 eggs is effected under tactile control, as the second lot is not extruded merely in 



