1808 Bidktin ^j, United States National Museum, 



2210. SEBASTODES llOSACECS (Girard). 



(Corsair.) 



Head2|; depth 3; eye very large, 3i in head. D. XIII, 13; A. Ill, 6; 

 lateral line 48. Body oblong, little elevated ; head rather pointed ; mouth 

 moderate, the jaws about equal, the lower with a small knob; maxillary 

 not reaching posterior border of eye, its leugth 2 iu head; premaxillaries 

 below the orbit. Maxillary and preorbital partly scaled; mandible and 

 snout naked; preoxiercular spines short. Gill rakers moderate, longer 

 than iu .S'. consiellains, not clavate. Scales moderate, the accessory ones 

 numerous. Dorsal spines rather low and strong, the fourth f the length 

 of the head, about as high as the soft rays, the fin rather deeply eniargi- 

 nate; caudal slightly notched; anal rather low, with the second spine 

 curved, 2| in head, much longer and stronger than third, shorter than 

 the soft rays; pectoral fins moderate, reaching beyond tips of veutrals, 

 past the vent, ^^ in body. Bones of skull thin ; preocular, supraocular, 

 postocular, tympanic, and parietal spines i? resent, slender, sharp, the 

 ridges thin, rather high, parietal bones well separated; interorbital space 

 narrow, 5^ in base of skull, concave, with 2 small ridges over mucous 

 canals; ventral process of basisphenoid well developed; mesethmoid 

 processes compressed, strongly elevated (at an angle of about 45^) ; base 

 of skull very nearly straight. Bright orange red, the young strongly 

 tinged or mottled with golden yellow; back with 4 pale spots, arranged 

 precisely as in S. constcllatns, rhodocliloris, and cliJorosiictns; these always 

 very distinct, of a rose-pink color, or sometimes almost white; the darker 

 border around them is of a deep purple or blood color, never greenish ; fins 

 rosy, mottled with orange; head with radiating stripes of orange and 

 rosy ; nape with alternating bars of yellowish and deep red, the colors 

 blending ; no decided green, and no small pink spots anywhere ; perito- 

 neum blackish. Length 12 inches. Coast of California, San Diego to 

 San Francisco, in rather deep water ; the most abundant of the red species, 

 and one of the smallest; coloration very brilliant, (rosaceus, rosy.) 



Seiastes rosaceus, Gieaed, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., vn, 1854, 146, and in U. S. Pac. R. R. 



Surv.,x, Fishes, 78, pi. 21, 1858 (poor figure, from a specimen in bad condition), San 



Diego; San Francisco (UoU. A. Cassidy and Dr. Newberry); Gunther, Cat.,ii, 98. 

 iSebaales helvomaculatug, Ayeks, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., u, 1859, 26, f. 8, San Francisco. (Coll. 



W.O. Ayres.) 

 Sebasloden rosaceus, Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 666, 1883; Cramer, Pioc. Cal. Ac. Sci., 



series 2, v, 1895, 598, pi. 63, fig. 20. 



2211. SEBASTODES AYRESII, GUbert & Cramer. 



Head 2^; depth 24. D. XIII, 13; A. Ill, 6; lateral line (pores) 42 to 44; 

 transverse rows of scales 43. Very closely related to Sebastodcs rosaceus, 

 but the supraorbital ridge lower, thicker, and without spine. Body oblong, 



on upper angle of gill opening; head below orbit pink, with bronze bar through cheek; 

 maxillarj pink, with a median bronze streak; membranes of maxillaries chiefly bronze; 

 lower surface of bead rose colored; breast yellowisb pink, abdomen nearly white; area 

 above anal yellowish ; dorsal light bluish pink, clouded with bronze, the rays of all the 

 other fins pink, the membraues bronze. Length about 11 inches. Coronado Islands, 

 (arews, broaze.) 



