182 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 PRIONODES FASCIATUS Jenyns 



c arajo ;^c arajito 

 Figure 41 



Prionodes fasciatus Jenyns, 1842, p. 47, pi. 9, fig. 1, Chatham Island, Galdpagos 

 (original description). — Evermann and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 77, Lobos de 

 Afuera, Peru (synonymy, description). — Meek and Hildebrand, 1925, p. 

 470, Panama Bay (synonymy; description; range). 



Head 2.7, 2.8; depth 3.4, 3.3; D. X, 12, X, 12; A. III,f7, III, 7; 

 P. 17, 17; scales 5-50, 5-49. 



Body fairly robust, its greatest thickness about two-thirds of its 

 depth; dorsal profile anteriorly gently convex; caudal peduncle com- 

 pressed, 3.0, 2.85 in head; snout moderately pointed, 3.8, 3.6; eye 

 5.25, 5.55; interorbital 8.2, 6.0; mouth rather large, oblique; lower 

 jaw projecting, entering dorsal outline; maxillary extending about 

 opposite posterior margin of pupil, 2.33, 2.15 in head; teeth in each 

 jaw in a band, some of the outer ones enlarged, caninelike, especially 

 a pair on each side in anterior part of upper jaw, and two or three 

 laterally in lower jaw; small teeth present also on vomer and palatines; 

 vertical limb of preopercle finely serrate, lower limb smooth anteriorly, 

 none of the serrae enlarged; gill rakers very short, spinose, nme more 

 or less developed on lower and five or six on upper limb of first arch; 

 lateral line complete, following curve of back, scales moderately large, 

 ctenoid, not extending forward on interorbital or snout, small on 

 preopercle, mostly fully as large on opercle as on body; dorsal con- 

 tinuous, the posterior spines nearly as long as the fourth, the latter 

 3.5, 3.6 in head, origin of fin over base of pectoral, the soft part higher 

 than the spines; margin of caudal nearly straight, the upper angle 

 slightly produced; anal spines short, moderately strong, the second 

 3.2, 3.6 in head, only a little more than half the length of longest soft 

 rays; ventral inserted slightly in advance of base of pectoral, with 

 a moderately strong spine contained 3.5, 3.8 in head ; pectoral reaching 

 far beyond tip of ventral, the longest rays below middle of fin, its 

 distal margin above longest rays oblique, nearly straight, 1.4, 1.4 in 

 head. 



Color dark grayish brown above ; pale gray below ; lower part of side 

 with six or seven dark blotches, some of them vertically elongated; 

 chest with irregular black spots or specks; soft dorsal and the outer 

 rays of caudal with small black spots; caudal and anal with dusky 

 mottlings, sometimes forming ellipses with a slight dot in center; 

 ventral rather darker than adjacent parts of body; pectoral slightly 

 dusky at base and with an irregular black spot, the rest of fin plain 

 translucent. 



"Color in life: Two rows of spots on the sides; the spots of the 

 same row may tend to run together, or the spots of one row may be 

 more or less fused with corresponding spots in the other row; hence 



