92 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



not increasing much, if any, with increase in SL; vertebrae 33-34 

 (34 in 19 of 20 specimens); supraorbital cirri 2-6, number increasing 

 with increase in SL (table 40) ; main or longest supraorbital cirrus 

 with all branches mesially, or all cirri arising from a common base; 

 nape with 1 cirrus on each side; predorsal commissural pores 4-32 

 (rarely more than 20), number increasing with increase in SL (table 

 41); preopercular series of pores with all positions with simple pores; 

 single pore before each anterior nostril; lateral line pores terminating 

 on side in area below and between dorsal fin spine 11 and dorsal ray 

 6 (usually anterior to dorsal ray 3) ; ventral margin of upper lip com- 

 pletely crenulate; lip crenulae number 26-35 (27-33 in 92 percent 

 of specimens). 



Proportional measurements: See tables 3, 4, and 42. 



Males develop fleshy rugose modifications of the skin of the anal 

 spines and the anterior first to fourth anal rays. If one considers 

 males with these modifications to be mature, the smallest mature 

 male examined was 26.6 mm SL. Mature and immature males may 

 occiu" in the same collection and in these collections immature males 

 may be as much as 6 mm longer than mature males. 



The largest specimen examined was a mature male 48.2 mm SL; 

 the largest female was 41.1 mm SL. Males were more than twice 

 as common as females in collections, but in relative numbers the 

 sexes were about equal at sizes up to 35 mm SL. Above 35 mm SL 

 males were relatively more common. About 22 percent of the males 

 achieved a size of more than 40 mm SL, whereas only 1 (2.8 percent) 

 female attained such a size. The smallest specimen examined, 16.4 

 mm SL, was not an ophioblennius stage. Vomerine teeth were 

 present in this specimen, but the posterior canines of the lower jaw 



TABLE 4-0. — Frequency distribution of number of supraorbital 

 cirri of left eye of specimens of Entomacrodus cyma- 

 tobiotus arranged by SL classes (in ram) 



