THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 151 



section, about equal in width and depth at eyes; snout depressed, 1.4 

 to 1.45 in head; eye elongate, 11 to 14 in head, 7.5 to 9.0 in snout; 

 interorbital 18 to 22 in snout, 4.3 to 6.6 in postorbital part of head; 

 mouth oblique; lower jaw strongly projecting; maxillary posteriorly 

 concave, 13 to 15 in head, 9.0 to 10.5 in snout; teeth minute, in a 

 single series laterally in each jaw; a bony ridge over eye, the opposite 

 ones converging at about the beginning of the posterior fourth of 

 snout, the space between them rather smooth (without definite 

 ridges) ; posterior half of upper lateral ridge of snout, posterior fourth 

 of lower lateral ridge, and ridge along upper margin of opercle serrate; 

 dorsal ridges of snout without serrae, nearly parallel, but converging 

 near tip of snout; lateral line unarmed; skin in small examples rough 

 to the touch, with minute spines, arranged in more or less definite 

 longitudinal rows, rather larger and blunter on opercle and upper 

 surface of head, skin apparently becoming smooth with age; dorsal 

 and anal similar, anterior lobes pointed, placed directly opposite each 

 other, the longest rays a little shorter than postorbital part of head; 

 caudal forked, the lobes of about equal length, the filament as long as 

 snout and eye or sometimes nearly as long as head; ventral small, equal 

 to or shorter than eye, inserted on lateral ventral edge, generally about 

 an eye's diameter nearer tip of snout than base of caudal; pectoral 

 fully twice as long as ventral, the longest rays near middle of fin in 

 small examples, but the upper ones longest in large ones, 6.5 to 8.4 in 

 head, 4.6 to 5.8 in snout. 



Color grayish brown above; pale underneath; small examples with 

 an indefinite dusky streak along lateral line, and some of these with 

 suggestions of dark cross bars on back, large examples plainer; fins 

 plain translucent, with dusky tips in large specimens; caudal filament 

 black. 



Many specimens, 130 to 245 mm. (122 to 230 mm. to base of caudal) 

 long, are included in the collection secured by the Mission. These 

 were taken partly with an otter trawl in Sechura Bay, and others were 

 seined in Chilca Bay. The proportions and enumerations used in the 

 description are based on seven specimens 160 to 245 mm. long and 

 one large one 608 mm. long from off Punta Parifia, presented by Lt. 

 Colin Sanborn, U.S.N.R. The name "aguja" seems to be used for 

 the pipefishes (Syngnathus) also. 



The large specimen differs from the small ones in having smooth 

 skin; the body is broader and proportionately more depressed; the 

 upper rays, instead of the middle ones of pectoral, are longest; and 

 the dark band along the lateral line and dark cross markings are 

 missing. Several large specimens, ranging upward of 370 mm. 

 in length, and two small ones, 205 and 235 mm. long from Panama 

 Bay, the type locality, are at hand for comparison. The interval in 

 size of the large and the small specimens obviously is too great to show 



