THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 47 



3.25; length anterior to vent 2.35; length posterior to vent 1.9; tail 

 strongly depressed, its width at axil of ventral 2.8 in length anterior 

 to axil of pectoral; its depth at same place 5.1; depth of peduncle 

 12.7; tail coming to a narrow edge laterally, though not keeled; snout 

 very short and broad, its length anterior to eye about 7.75 in length 

 anterior to vent, and notably less than interorbital space, the latter 

 3.5 in length anterior to axil of pectoral; eye very small, 6.3 in interor- 

 bital space; spiracle rather far behind eye, not quite twice as broad as 

 eye, 3.65 in interorbital space; space between spiracles narrower than 

 that between eyes, 3.75 in length anterior to axil of pectoral; mouth 

 broad, bent forward, not quite terminal, its width 2.4 in length 

 anterior to axil of pectoral; teeth rather broad at base, with a sharply 

 pointed cusp, in 18 widely separated longitudinal series in each upper 

 jaw, no median series in either jaw; nostrils on rim of snout, space 

 between them notably less than interorbital space, 1.35 in interorbital, 

 and 4.65 in length anterior to axil of pectoral; outer lobe of nostril 

 narrow, notched on one nostril, but entire and convex on the other; 

 inner lobe broad, its inner parts scalloped, with a small rather long, 

 narrow paddle-shaped auxiliary lobe originating above its inner angle; 

 skin above everywhere rough, with 1- to 3-keeled pointed denticles 

 over shoulders; a median series of enlarged denticles (or tubercles), 

 beginning over ventrals and continued to second dorsal; a similarly 

 enlarged patch of denticles in front and behind eye, four above upper 

 margin of snout and another small group between spiracles; denticles 

 continued on all the fins and also on nearly the entire lower surface of 

 pectorals and ventrals, a transverse band on the chest, a larger patch 

 on the abdomen, and on entire under surface of tail, except at base; 

 dorsal fins of nearly equal size and shape, the base of the second about 

 half interorbital space, its height about equal to interorbital space; 

 space between dorsals equal to distance from second dorsal to begin- 

 ning of upper lobe of caudal ; caudal broadly concave, the lower lobe 

 longer than the upper; ventral broad with an acute inner lobe, its 

 distal margin nearly straight, its outer margin 2.55 in length anterior 

 to axil of pectoral; pectoral broad, with a free anterior angle, poste- 

 riorly partly overlapping ventral, its outer and distal margins forming a 

 right angle, the latter scarcely concave, its outer margin 3.5 in total 

 length. 



Color now virtually uniformly gray above, pale underneath. Color 

 described by Evermann and Radcliffe (see citation above), when the 

 specimen had not been in preservative a very long time, as "ashy 

 gray, finely mottled and blotched with olive; dusky areas on dorsal 

 and caudal, larger and irregular in form; ventral surface white." 



The foregoing description is based on a specimen (U.S.N.M. No. 

 77708) 585 mm. long, according to my measm-ement (not 560 mm. as 

 stated by Evermann and Radcliffe), taken at Lobos de Tierra, Peru, 



