GENUS ENTOMACRODUS — SPRINGER 



53 



Entoinacrodus stellifer stellifer (Jordan and Snyder) 



Plate 4 



Scartichthys slcllifcr Jordan and Snyder, 1902, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 25, 

 p. 461, fig. 10 [Wakanoura, Japan]. 



Geographic variation'. — Though few specimens are available, it 

 appears that Japanese specimens have lower average counts than do 

 specimens from the other localities. The low fin ray counts of the 

 Japanese specimens are most similar to those of specimens of E. .s. 

 lighti from Hong Kong (table 16). Specimens of E. s. stellifer from 

 Okinawa, the locality at which E. s. stellifer occurs most closely to 

 E. s. lighti (at Hong Kong), have higher average counts than do 

 specimens oi E. s. lighti. 



Discussion. — E. s. stellifer is differentiated from E. s. lighti by 

 its color pattern, in which the bands on the body are punctuated 

 with small pale dots and dashes, and the anterior portion of the sides 

 and head frequently bear numerous dark spots and vermiculations. 

 In E. s. lighti the bands are unbroken by pale spots and dashes; 

 and dark spots and vermiculations, when present on the head and 

 anterior portions of the sides, are not numerous. 



Males and females of E. s. stellifer, unlike E. s. lighti, do not exhibit 

 sexual dimorphism in numbers of dorsal fin rays. 



TABLE 18. — Frequency distribution of number of predorsal commissural pores of 

 subspecies of Entomacrodus stellifer arranged by SL classes ( in mm) 



