LARIMUS FASCIATUS. 153 



GENUS LARIMUS. — CwrnVr. 



Characters. Snout very short and blunt ; pre-opercle with minute serratures ; 

 jaws armed Avith small, villiform teeth ; no barbels at the chin ; branchial rays 

 seven. 



LARIMUS FASCIATUS. — Holbrook. 



Plate XXII. Fig. 1. 



Specific Characters. Body above light grey; sides and belly silvery; sides 

 marked with vertical dusky bars ; snout very short and truncated. D. 10 - 1 - 24, 

 P. 12. V. 1-5; A. 2-6. C. 16. 



Synonyme. Bull-head, Vulgo. 



Description. This fish bears considerable resemblance to the Leiostomus ohli- 

 quus, though its back is less arched, and it is much thicker in the transverse direc- 

 tion. The head is small, and the snout short and truncated, though round ; it is 

 broad between the eyes, and is everywhere covered with scales, except along the 

 lower jaw. The eye is very large, prominent, near the facial outline, with its infe- 

 rior margin above the median plane of the head ; it is about half its diameter from 

 the snout, and two diameters from the posterior border of the opercle ; the pupil 

 is dusky, rather longest in the vertical direction ; the iris is pale silver-grey. 

 The nostrils are placed in a depression very near the eye; both are sub-oval, 

 though the anterior is rather smaller and more elevated. 



The mouth is of moderate size, and opens downwards and backwards ; the 

 upper jaw is not protractile, or but slightly so ; and the lower is pointed in front, 

 though thick in the vertical direction, and appears, when the mouth is open, much 

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