Jordan a7id Evermann. — Fishes of North America, 1783 



dark above, sides paler ; upper part of sides thickly marked with small 

 slaty-black blotches; head blackish above; a dark streak on maxillary 

 and oue from eye across cheek; fius dusky, dorsal paler at base, with 

 mauy dark olive-brown spots; a black ocular spot; lower rays of pecto- 

 rals often tinged with orange; peritoneum white. Bones of skull thick, 

 cranial ridges (except pariotals) and spines obsolete; parietal ridges 

 moderate, sometimes ending in a small spine; small supra- or postocular 

 spine sometimes present ; parietal bones touching or overlapping in middle 

 third of their leugth ; iuterorbital space broad, convex, nearly 3 in liase of 

 skull in adult, mesethmoid processes not elevated; ventral process of basi- 

 sphenoid rudimentary; base of skull (paraspheuoid) markedly curved. 

 Length 20 iuches. Monterey to Kadiak, most abundant northward; very 

 abundant at Sitka, where it is called "Black Bass." At San Francisco 

 much less common than S. mxjstinus ; about Humboldt Bay much more com- 

 mon, being the most abundant food-fish, (/tf'/las, black; wip, face.) 



Sebastes melanops," Gieard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., vni, 1854, 135, and in U. S. Pac. 



E. R. Surv., X, Fishes, 81, 1858. Astoria and Cape Flattery ; Ayres, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 



1862, 213, fig. 66; GiJNTHER, Cat., n,98. 

 Sebastosomiis sinmlans,- Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 147, Cape Flattery. 

 Sebastodes melanops, Cramer, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., series 2, v, 1895, 592, pi. 58, fig. 4. 



Subgenus PRIMOSPINA, Eigenmann >>c Beeson. 



•21S4. SEBASTODES CILIATCS (Tileains). 



Head 3^ ; depth 3 to 3^. D. XIII, 16 ; A. Ill, 8 ; P. 18 or 19 ; transverse (ob- 

 lique) rows of scales 46 or 47 (-f 3 or 4 on caudal) ; pores in lateral line 46 or 

 47. Body compressed, deep, its width over the base of the pectorals about 2 

 in the depth ; dorsal outline descending rapidly backward in a slight curve 

 from origin of first dorsal to end of second dorsal; depth of peduncle 

 more than 3 in depth of body ; head compressed, profile steep and nearly 

 straight; eye moderate, orbit circular, its diameter a little longer than 

 snout, 35 in head, its posterior rim at about the middle of leugth of head. 

 Iuterorbital space strongly convex, its depth a little less than orbit, 3^ to 4 

 in head. Nasal spines small ; cranial ridges and spines all obsolete, except 

 the parietal; parietal ridge very slightly developed, Avith a minute point 

 or none, covered with scales. Mouth moderate, quite oblique; tip of 

 upper jaw on a level with center of eye; maxillary '2i in head, its pos- 

 terior end reaching about to vertical from posterior edge of pupil ; lower 

 jaw a little projecting, with a slight symphyseal knob. Very narrow 

 bands of teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Preorbital moderate, its 

 lower edge scarcely at all indented or entirely continuous, spineless ; sub- 

 orbital stay scarcely visible; preocular spines small, the 3 upper directed 

 backward and slightly divergiug, nearly eciuidistant and of equal size, 

 the 2 lower minute or obsolescent; opercular spines small, without visible 



* Referring to Dr. GirarcVs description of this species. Dr. Gill remarks : 

 "It is also proper to remark that 2 species are apparently confounded hy Girard under 

 the name Sebastes melanops, 1 with 'a smaU spine upon the suprascapular bone, 2 

 otliers upon the edge of the opercle,' and another from Cape Flattery, with tlie lower 

 opercular spine as well as the supraorbital ridges obsolete, and the forehead between the 

 eyes perfectly arched. The latter may be named Sebastosomus simulans (GUI). 



