GENUS ENTOMACRODUS — SPRINGER 



141 



had 14 rays, and 2 had 15 rays. I noted no other sexual dimorphism 

 of meristic characters. 



Color pattern of preserved specimens. — E. t. thalassinus: The 

 body is uniformly pale, or pale with a single concentrated spot of 

 melanophores midlaterally, or pale with scattered sprinklings of 

 melanophores, some of which may be concentrated into a few mid- 

 lateral blotches (see: Jordan and Scale, 1906, fig. 106; Schultz and 

 Chapman, 1960, pi. 115D). In freshly preserved specimens there is 

 evidence of a number of vertical orange bands on the body (pi. 28: 

 pattern indicated on body). These bands fade completely in alcohol. 

 Specimens of less than 16 mm SL from Raroia exhibited four types of 

 body coloration: (1) completely pale; (2) a loose concentration of 

 melanophores at the caudal base; (3) a loose concentration of melano- 

 phores midlaterally; and (4) a loose concentration of melanophores 

 midlaterally and at the caudal base. The head is pale with a dark 

 spot behind the eye, sprinklings of melanophores on the upper lip and 

 snout, and a concentration of melanophores on the ventral surface, 

 which in mature males forms a noticeable blotch (see Schultz and 

 Chapman, 1960, pi. 115E). The fins are essentially as described for 

 E. t. longicirrus (see below) , but the dark spots and stripes are smaller 

 (on the caudal fin they may be completely absent). 



E. t. longicirrus: Specimens exhibit more markings on the body, in 

 general, than do specimens of the other subspecies. The body 



TABLE 68. — Frequency distribution of number of supraorbital cirri of left eye 

 of specimens of subspecies of Entomacrodus thalassinus arranged by SL 



