THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 25 



HALAELURUS CHILENSIS' (Gnichenot) 



Peje-gato; Tollito 



Scyllium chilensis Guichenot, in Gay, 1848, p. 362, Chile (original description) 

 Scyliorhinus chilensis Regan, 1908, p. 462 (synonymy; description). 

 Halaelurus chilensis Evermann and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 3, MoUendo, Peru 

 (synonymy; description). — Fowler, 1941a, p. 220 (references). 



Body slender, with a very long slender caudal peduncle, depth over 

 middle of pectoral if laid back against body 7.6 to 7.8 in length to 

 base of caudal; head low and broad, only about half as deep as wide 

 over eyes, its length to first gill slit 5.6 in length anterior to base of 

 caudal; snout somewhat pointed, 2.4 to 2.5 in head to first gill slit; 

 eye elongate, superior in position, 6.6 to 7.0 in head; spiracle rathei 

 large, somewhat deeper than long, back of and somewhat below eye- 

 mouth broad, much wider than interorbital space; labial folds on 

 both jaws, of about equal length, the lower one extending about half- 

 way to symphysis; teeth mostly tricuspid, the middle cusp long and 

 narrow, the lateral ones very small; dermal denticles on anterior part 

 of side more or less triangular, with a rather narrow base and a long 

 sharp distal apex, and with suggestions of two or three ridges at base ; 

 first dorsal placed far back, its origin over or slightly behind middle 

 of base of ventral, its height much greater than length of its base; 

 predorsal length 1.95 to 2.05 in length anterior to base of caudal; 

 distance between dorsal fins 4.65 to 5.1; second dorsal of about same 

 size and shape as the first, its origin about over middle of anal base; 

 caudal short, upper lobe 4.9 in length anterior to its base, with convex 

 margin, lower lobe scarcely exserted, with base only a little shorter 

 than head; anal smaller than dorsal fins, its base 2.0 in head; ventral 

 inserted about equidistant from insertion of pectoral and origin of 

 anal, its outer margin 1.75 to 1.9 in head, its distal margin slightly 

 convex; pectoral somewhat larger than ventral, inserted under fourth 

 gill slit, its distal margin broadly and gently convex, 1.35 in head. 



Color of preserved specimens dark gray above; one specimen much 

 darker than the other; pale underneath; with roundish dark spots 

 above and below in the lighter specimen, not visible above in the 

 darker one; the light specimen with nine indefinite broad bands on 

 back, these not clearly evident in the dark one; fins of about the same 

 color as that part of the body to which they are attached, spotted 

 with black, the spots obscure in the dark specimen. 



The collection contains two specimens, each 390 mm. long, which 

 provide the basis for the foregoing description. The broad depressed 

 head, the long slender peduncle, the superior eyes, and the very back- 

 ward position of the first dorsal distinguish this shark from all others 

 of the Peruvian fauna. 



One of the specimens was taken with a trammel net in Indepen- 

 dencia Bay, at Viejas Island, and the other with a line trawl on the 



