1924 Btdletin ^7, United States National Miiseiim. 



2301. TRIGLOPS BEAM, Gilbert. 



Head 3f to3|; deptli6; snout longer than eye, 31 to 3^ in head; eye 

 3i to 3|; D. X or XI, 23 to 26; A. 24 to 26; C. 12; P. 18; V. I, 3; lateral 

 line 48 to 50 ; brauchiostegals 6, Body heavy at shoulders, tapering rapidly 

 to slender caudal peduncle ; depth of caudal peduncle \ its length from 

 base of last dorsal ray; greatest width of head slightly less than its 

 depth, its lower profile straight, the upper descending in a gentle, even 

 curve; mouth nearly horizontal, the maxillary almost reaching vertical 

 from middle of eye, 2^ to 2\ in head; villiform teeth on jaws and vomer, 

 none on palatines; supraorbital rim slightly elevated, a groove-like 

 depression behind it; interorbital space rather wide, forming a shallow 

 groove, its width 3^ to 5 in diameter of orbit; occipital ridges obsolete, 

 a faint trace of them sometimes present, never ending in a spine ; opercle 

 with 4 spinous points, the lowermost directed downward and forward, the 

 others radiating downward and backward. Branchiostegal membranes 

 broadly united, free from the isthmus. Longest dorsal spine 3^ to 4 in 

 head; base of spinous dorsal li% to \\ in head; of soft dorsal 2f to 3 in 

 length of head and body ; length of base of anal 2-^^ in head and body ; 

 caudal slightly emargiuate, 2-1^ in head. Head and upper part of body 

 densely covered with very fine prickles, mxich finer than in Triglops scepticus; 

 lower side of head, the maxillaries, and a narrow strip along the lower 

 side of cheek naked ; the itsiial series of enlarged prickles along the base 

 of dorsals; lateral folds few in number, scarcely exceeding the scutes of 

 the lateral line ; they leave a wide, naked strip along the base of anal 

 and do not encircle the caudal peduncle below ; breast with 5 or 6 cross 

 folds similar to those on the sides, the scales along margins of folds very 

 small, those of successive folds widely separated, not overlapping as in 

 Trkjlops scepiiciis. Color light olive brown above, whitish on lower parts 

 of sides and below; the breast and belly, including area in front of 

 pectorals, silvery; back crossed with 4 saddle-shaped black blotches, most 

 distinct in the males ; the first of these under the middle of the spinous 

 dorsal and extending obliquely forward to the upper axil of pectorals, 

 the second and third under the soft dorsal, narrowing rapidly downward 

 to lateral line, the fourth on the back of caudal peduncle. In males, the 

 lower ends of these cross bars are connected by a narrow lengthwise jet- 

 black streak, extending from shoulder below lateral line nearly to base of 

 caudal, the narrow interval between this streak and lateral line occupied 

 by a bright silvery streak, interrupted by the cross bars ; a black blotch at 

 base of upper and 1 at base of lower caudal rays; a vsmall black spot near 

 tips of the outer caudal rays, the fin otherwise unmarked ; an indistinct, 

 dusky blotch below the eye, and a dusky streak along under side of 

 suborbital stay, extending forward along the margin of the preorbital to 

 tip of snout ; a blotch on middle of maxillary and upper lip ; front of lower 

 lip dusky; a dark blotch on opercle, and a dusky bar on branchiostegal 

 membranes. In the females the general pattern of coloration is the same, 

 biit the darker markings are less distinct, and the l)lack lateral streak of 

 the males is represented by a disconnected series of irregular, dark 

 blotches and vermiculations. In both sexes the dorsals and pectorals are 



