Jordan and Evcrmann. — Fishes of North America. 1915 



Uiialaska Island and in Bristol Bay, Alaska. * (Gilbert. ) (spiniycr, bearing 

 spines. ) 



Icclus spiniyer, Gilbert, Kept. U. S. Fish Comiu. 1893 (1896), 412, pi. 24, Bristol Bay and 

 Unalaska, at Albatross Stations 3216, 3223, and elsewhere, in 17 to 121 fathoms. 



2293. ICKLUS EUUYOPS, Bean. 



Head 3; depth 5i. D. IX, 23; A. 18; V. I, 3; lateral line 43. Eye 

 about twice as long as snout and | as long as head. Maxilla scarcely 

 extending to beh)w middle of eye; iuterorbital space about i length of 

 eye; occiput with 2 spines; pectoral extending to above second ray of 

 anal ; preopercle armed as in Icelus scuiiger ; vomer and palate well toothed ; 

 head scaled as in Icelus scutu/er; lateral line composed of raised tubes ; a 

 single series of spiny scales on back along base of dcu'sals; branchiostegal 

 membranes broadly united, free from isthmus; slit behind last gill obso- 

 lete. Spinous dorsal low, its longest spine less than ^ length of head. 

 Four dark bands across back, the first over the end of the spinous dorsal, 

 2 on the soft dorsal, and 1 at base of caudal. General color light 

 brown. Bering Sea, olf Trinity Islands. (Bean.) 



Dr. Gilbert has the following notes on 1 of the cotypes (No. 45367, U. S. 

 Nat. Mus.) of Icelus curyops, kindly loaned by Dr. Bean: Specimen 77 mm. 

 long, 65 mm. to base of caudal fin. Head 22 mm. to end of opercular spine ; 

 depth 11; orl)itlO^; snout 5^; maxillary 11; iuterorbital width 1^. Dorsal 

 IX, 23; anal 19; pectorall8; caudal 9 (divided rays). Preopercular spines 

 as in Icelus ricinaUs, the upper spine altnormal on 1 side, showing 3 points 

 instead of 2; behiw the forked spine are 3 others, 1 directed backward 

 and a little downward, 1 neai'ly vertically downward, aiul 1 downward 

 and forward; nasal spines strong; oecii)ital ridges obvious with easily 

 perceptible slender spines, about as in Icelus vicinaUs, broadly rounded 

 anteriorly, scarcely ridge-like uniil immediately in front of spines. Head 

 rather closely invested with scales, scarcely so rough or so numerous as 

 in Icelus ricinalis, but more so than in Icelus canaliculatus ; opercle covered 

 with scales. Filaments as in Icrlus vicinalis; 1 pair above eyes, 1 ante- 

 riorly on occiput, and 1 occupying tips of occipital spines; the pair on 

 opercle cannot be made out. Armature of body as in less strongly scaled 

 specimens of Icelus vicinalis; lateral line provided with the usual spinous 

 scales, 43 or 44 in number; 40 scales in the dorsal series, which extends to 

 base of caudal; above it a rather crowded irregular series of smaller 

 scale-like prickles, some of which are larger than the others and alternate 

 rather regularly with the plates on the principal series; posteriorly the 

 smaller of the upper series are absent, the alternating larger ones alone 

 present; 10 or 12 small spinous plates are irregularly disposed between 



* Specimens were obtained in 1896 by the Albatross a.t Stations 3643 and 3644, off Provost- 

 maya, Kamchatka, in 100 and 96 fathoms. Females of this species seem more spinous 

 than males. The spines on supraorliital ridge are higher, the suborbital .stay is frequently 

 provided with 2 low spinous points, and the top and sides of head, as well as the bases of 

 the dorsal series of spinous plates, may be thickly beset with small prickles. 



