5.1287. JAPANESE TRTGGER-FISHES—JORDAN AND FOWlER 



273 



i6. PARALUTERES PRIONURUS Bleeker. 



AlutariuK prionurux Bleekei;, Verh. Bat. Gen., Balist., XXIV, 1S52, p. 20, pi. iii, 

 fig. 6; East Indies.— Hollard, Ann. Hc\. Nat., II, 1854, pi. xiv, fig. 10, 

 and 1855, p. 21. 



Paraluteres prionums Bleeker, Atlas Ichtii., V, 1865-69, p. i;>8, })1. ccxxvii, 

 fig. 1 ; East Indies, New Guinea. 



Monacantfuis prionurus GiJwmER, Cat. Fish., VIII, 1870, p. 234 (copied). 



Head 3i; depth If; D. I. 26; A. 24. Body somewhat thick, com- 

 pressed and smooth. Head deep, the snout not protruding much, so that 

 the upper profile line is almost straight to the dorsal; eye high, 2 in 

 snout, 3 in head, and 1^ in interorbital space; jaws equal; teeth pointed; 

 lips rather thin and fleshy; interorbital space flat; gill opening 2 in 

 interorbital space, nearly vertical; not far behind eye, and its distance 





Fig. 6.— Paraluteres prionurus. 



from the same much less its length; dorsal spine a trifle shorter than 

 snout, covered with the skin of the back almost to its tip, its origin 

 much nearer that of the soft dorsal than the tip of the snout, and 

 falling over the posterior part of the eye; origin of soft dorsal a 

 little before that of the anal, and the anterior rays of both tins the 

 longer; longest dorsal rays longer than longest anal rays, and equal to 

 the interorbital space; caudal rounded, the edges obtusely rounded; 

 pectoral short, below the gill opening, and equal to the interorbital 

 space. Caudal peduncle deeper than the length of the pectoral 1)ut 

 not equal to the snout; posteriorly and on the sides a bare area in 

 which 4 curved spines are placed in two series. 



Cvolor in spirits pale brownish, a ])and across base of spinous dorsal 



from eye to eye; 2 broader ])ands, both narrow, on the sides of the 



body until level with the eye, when they become broad, extend over 



the back, the first including the upper half of the spinous dorsal and 



Proc. N. M. vol. XXV— 02 18 



