THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 159 



1 has 38 anal rays, 2 have 39, 4 have 40, and 2 have 42, while among 

 11 specimens of M. gayi 1 has 36 anal rays, 4 have 37, and 6 have 38. 

 The gill rakers on the lower limb of the first arch in M. productus, on 

 the other hand, average rather fev/er. Of the 9 specimens examined 



2 have 12 rakers, 2 have 13, 2 have 14, and 3 have respectively 15, 16, 

 and 17, whereas among the 10 specimens of M. gayi 1 has 14 rakers, 

 2 have 15, 6 have 16, and 1 has 17. The scales probably are smaller in 

 M. produdus. However, it is impossible to make an accurate enumer- 

 ation in either species because some of the scales are missing on every 

 specimen at hand. According to the most nearly accurate counts 

 obtainable, M. produdus has about 133 to 143 scales in a lateral series 

 above the lateral line, and M. gayi has about 120. According to the 

 larger specimens M. gayi has a more deeply concave caudal. That 

 the body is slenderer in M. produdus, as indicated by Norman (1937, 

 p. 47), is not substantiated by the measurements based on the speci- 

 mens studied, and if the pectoral is longer, it seems to be only a slight 

 average difference. 



Specimens from the southern part of the Atlantic coast of South 

 America have been identified as M. gayi by several authors. Marini 

 (1933, p. 322) was the first to recognize the Atlantic representatives as 

 specifically distinct from M. gayi of the Pacific coast, and he named the 

 Atlantic form M. hubbsi. As already pointed out by Marini, and also 

 by Norman (1937, p. 45), M. hubbsi has a shorter pectoral fin, which 

 reaches to or a little beyond the beginning of the anal and is contained 

 5.1 to 6.25 times in the length, and 1.5 to 1.75 in the head in seven 

 specimens, 140 to 235 mm. (121 to 205 mm. to base of caudal) long. 

 The ventral fin, on the other hand, is longer, as it is contained 5.5 to 

 6.4 times in the length, and 1.6 to 1.85 in the head. It also has fewer 

 pectoral rays, the number being constantly 14 in the seven specimens 

 examined. Furthermore, it has a convex or pointed caudal at a 

 length (of about 200 to 235 mm.) when this fin already is concave in 

 M. gayi. 



M. angusticeps Garman, known only from deep water from Panama 

 Bay, according to two cotypes at hand, 175 and 178 mm. long, differs 

 from M. gayi only in having fewer gill rakers, as only 11 or 12 are 

 present on the lower limb of the first arch, and the eye may be a little 

 larger, being contained 5.0 to 5.2 times in the head. 



Range. — Coasts of Peru and Chile. 



Family SERRANIDAE: Seabasses 



Body oblong, more or less compressed; mouth moderate or large, 

 oblique; maxillary broad, exposed, with or without a supplemental 

 bone'^; teeth present on jaws, vomer, and palatines (apparently 



" Jordan (1923) divided the family Serranldae, as usually understood by authors, into smaller families, 

 basing the divisions principally on the presence or absence of a supplemental maxillary bone. As the 

 divisions made, and the groups erected, are not clearly defined and not well understood (at least by the 

 present writer), Jordan's classification of the seabasses is not used in this catalog. 



