128. BALISTID^ — BALISTES. 
8.55 
jaws with incisor-like teeth, usually four on each side, in each jaw. 
First dorsal of three spines, the anterior of which is much the largest 
(the third rarely minute or obsolete); second dorsal and anal rather 
long, similar to each other, often falcate or filamentous in front; caudal 
fin usuall_\ rounded, with the outer rays produced; pelvic bone very 
long, with a blunt, usually movable spine at its end; no barbels; 
branchiostegals G; vertebrte 7 + 10. Species very numerous in the 
tropical seas. (,5«/(5, to shoot.) 
a. Caudal peduncle compressed ; teetli -white, uneven, more or less notched ; cheeks 
without naked stripes; larger bony plates behind gill-oi)ening. 
&. A groove in front of the eye; tail without spiues or tubercles. (Balistes.) 
131§. B. A'efaliBS L. 
Two curved, bluish, dark-edged bauds on the side of the head, the 
lower from the angle of the mouth towards the throat, the upper from 
above the snout to the root of the pectoral ; a black light-edged line, 
similarly curved below the eye; several other similar lines radiating 
from the eye; caudal fin margined above and below with bluish, and 
with an intra-marginal bluish baud ; dorsal and anal fins with trans- 
verse bluish bauds ; young with some irregular oblique black lines fol- 
lowing the rows of scales. Scales on head much smaller and more 
crowded than those on body; third dorsal spine shorter and weaker 
than second ; caudal fin widely forked, the lobes filamentous and about 
equal. Head 3; depth 14. D. III-29; A. 27; Lat. 1. G3. Tropical parts 
of the Atlantic; occasional on our coast. 
(Linn. Syst. Xat. ; Giintber, viii, 215.) 
1319. B. caprsscus Gmelin. — Leather-jacket. 
Uniform brownish ; second dorsal and anal chequered or marked 
with interrupted longitudinal brown lines ; caudal mottled ; young 
with numerous small dark-brown dots. Third dorsal spine shorter but 
stouter than the second; plates on head similar to those on the body; 
caudal lobes produced in the adult; soft dorsal high, its longest rays 
1^ in head. Head 3J; depth If. D. III-27; A. 25; Lat. 1. 51 to 57 
(G2 in specimens from Italy) ; about 35 scales in an oblique series from 
vent upward and forward. Warm seas; occasional northward; com- 
mon on our Gulf coast and in the ^Mediterranean. 
(Gmelin, Syst. Xat. i, 1471,1788; Giiuther, viii, 217 : IJalistes fuliginosus Xew 
York Fauna, Fish. 1842, 339.) 
1320. B. powoli Cope. 
Ashy above, pale below; sides everywhere with series of longitudi- 
nally oval azure spots; dorsal and anal fins marked with smaller blue 
