Jordan and Ever mann. — Fishes of North America. 1273 



below, everywhere shaded with red, especially on head; eye scarlet; a 

 large blackish blotch on side, chiefly above lateral line and below first 

 rays of soft dorsal; maxillary yellow on covered parts; narrow bronze 

 streaks following the rows of scales, these streaks distinct chiefly above 

 the lateral line; dorsal fln pale, edged with blood-red; caudal deep red; 

 anal, ventrals, and pectorals scarlet; the bright colors fade and disappear 

 in spirits, leaving the back dark gray, the lower parts silvery, more or 

 less flushed with red. Described from a Culian specimen 10 inches long. 

 West Indies; a small species, rather common in the markets of Havana, 

 where it is known as ojanco, in allusion to the large eye. It does not reach 

 a large size, {maliogoni, the English mahogany, from the brown coloration . ) 



Mesoprion mahogoni, Cdvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss-.U, 447, 1828, Martinique; 



GiJNTHER, Cat., I, 203 

 Menoprion ricardi, Cuvieb & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ii, 447, 1828, Martinique. 

 Mesoprion ojanco, Poey, Memorias, ii, 150, pi. 13, fig. 10, 1860, Cuba. 

 Lutjanus ojanco, Poey, Enumeratio, 28, 1875. 

 Lutjanus mahogoni, Jordan &- Swain, I. c, 451 ; uOrdan & Fesler, I. c.,451. 



Subgenus RAIZERO, Jordan & Fesler. 



1648. >"EOM.EXIS ARATUS (Giinther). 



(Paego de Eaizero.) 



Head 3; depth 3\. D. XI, 12; A. Ill, 7; scales 4i-45-12. Body oblong- 

 elliptical, slenderer and less compressed than in other species of ^Yeomonis, 

 the back broad and little elevated; profile a little dejjressed above the 

 snout, then convex above the eyes, thence nearly straight to front of 

 dorsal; snout not very long, 3 in head; mouth moderate, somewhat ob- 

 lique, the jaws subequal; maxillary extending to beyond front of eye, its 

 length 2^ in head. Teeth moderate; canines of upper jaw not very large; 

 the enlarged teeth of lower jaw scarcely caninelike; teeth on tongue in 

 a large patch, developed in adult examples, but not evident in the young; 

 teeth on vomer in a V-shaped patch, without backward prolongation on the 

 median line; palatine teeth in a broad patch; no teeth on pterygoids. 

 Eye large, 5 in head; interorbital area broad and convex, its width 4 in 

 head; preorbital moderate, its least breadth 6 in head. Nostrils small, 

 well separated, oblong, the anterior but little the larger. Preopercle 

 with its posterior limb slanting downwards and forwards, with a mod- 

 erate emargination, sharply and finely serrate above, the teeth at the 

 angle coarser and directed somewhat forwards. Gill rakers few and 

 rather small, about 7 on lower part of anterior arch, not preceded by rudi- 

 ments. Scales large, arranged very regularly in horizontal series parallel 

 with the lateral line, both above and below; cheeks with 6 rows of scales; 

 nape with a band of about 3 series of moderate scales ; soft dorsal and 

 anal well scaled; tubes of lateral line well branched. Dorsal spines mod- 

 erate, the longest 2| in head; soft dorsal rather low and short; caudal 

 rather deeply lunate, the upper lobe 1^ in head; anal low, its longest rays 

 2y in head ; anal spines graduated, the second spine shorter and stouter 

 3030 3 



