274 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Head 2.9 to 3.2; depth 3.7 to 4.2; D. IX (occasionally X)-I, 23 (oc- 

 casionally I, 22); A. II, 15; P. 17 or 18; scales about 85 to 100 (often 

 difficult to enumerate) . 



Body quite elongate, moderately compressed, its greatest thickness 

 about two-thirds its depth; back little elevated; dorsal profile ante- 

 riorly very gently convex, less convex than ventral profile; head low, 

 compressed; caudal peduncle rather long, compressed, 3.6 to 4.0 in 

 head; snout pointed, 3.75 to 4.0; eye 5.0 to 6.7; interorbital 4.1 to 4.9; 

 mouth large, oblique; lower jaw projecting strongly; maxillary ex- 

 tending to or a little beyond posterior margin of pupil, 2.2 to 2.3 in 

 head; teeth in a narrow band in each jaw, upper jaw with a pair of 

 large canines (one often missing) , and generally with a smaller canine 

 on each side of the large ones, lateral teeth in lower jaw enlarged, 

 pointed ; membranous margin of preopercle crenulate ; gill rakers slen- 

 der, those at angle about two-thirds length of eye, 9 to 11 on lower 

 and 3 to 6 on upper limb of first arch; lateral line nearly straight an- 

 teriorly, then decurved, reachmg middle of side under anterior part of 

 second dorsal; scales small, thin, the rows above lateral line running 

 obliquely upward, small scales densely covering soft dorsal and anal, 

 also extending on the other fins ; dorsal fins well separated, proportion- 

 ately farther apart in large specimens than in small ones, distance 

 between base of last dorsal spine and origin of second dorsal fully 

 equal to diameter of eye in the larger specimen, spines of first dorsal 

 slender, more or less flexible, the third one generally longest, notably 

 longer than the longest soft rays, 2.1 to 2.5 in head; second dorsal 

 highest anteriorly ; caudal with a nearly straight margin in the smallest 

 specimens at hand, decidedly concave with acute lobes in the largest 

 ones; anal similar to second dorsal though much shorter, the spines 

 very weak, its origin a little in advance of middle of base of second 

 dorsal, its base 2.0 to 2.4 in head; ventral inserted scarcely behind 

 base of pectoral, pointed, 2.0 to 2.2 in head; pectoral long, especially 

 in large specimens, pointed, the fifth or sixth ray (counting downward) 

 longest, 1.3 to 1.5 in head, 4.0 to 4.5 in length. 



Color metallic blue to brown above; silvery on side; pale sUvery 

 below; faint dark lines along the rows of scales on side and back; tip 

 of mandible quite dark ; color pattern under magnification broken up 

 into dusky punctulations of varying density; fins in general lighter 

 than adjacent parts of body, also, exclusive of the ventrals, with dusky 

 punctulations, margin of dorsal fins blackish; axil of pectoral black. 



This species is represented by 15 specimens, 155 to 375 mm. (128 to 

 312 mm. to base of caudal) long, in the collection made by the Mission. 

 The specimens were caught with trammel nets, gill nets, seines, and 

 with handlines in the Gulf of Guayaquil, off Puerto Pizarro; at Lobos 

 de Tierra Island, and in Lobos de Tierra Bay; at Isla Santa, near 

 Chimbote ; at San Lorenzo Island ; at Pachacamac Island ; and off La 

 Punta, Callao. 



