THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 277 



CYNOSCION SQUAMIPINNIS (Gunthcr) 



Otolithus squamipinnis Gunther, 1869, p. 429, Panama Baj' (original description). 

 Cynoscion squamipinnis Meek and Hildebrand, 1925, p. 656, Panama Bay 

 (synonymy; description; range). 



Head 3.3; depth 4.1; D. VIII-I, 22; A. II, 10; P. 18; scales 87. 



Body moderately elongate, its greatest thickness rather more than 

 half its depth; dorsal outline scarcely convex from nostrils to nape; 

 head long, rather low, compressed; caudal peduncle rather long, 

 moderately compressed, 3.7 in head; snout pointed, 3.8; eye 6.3; inter- 

 orbital 4.25; mouth very large, oblique; lower jaw projecting; maxil- 

 lary extending fully to posterior margin of eye, 2.0 in head; teeth 

 largely in two irregular series, in a band anteriorly in lower jaw, upper 

 jaw with a pair of large, curved canines, some of the lateral teeth in 

 each jaw enlarged, those in lower jaw larger than those in upper jaw; 

 membranous margin of preopercle crenulate; opercle with two flat 

 spines; gill rakers slender, those at angle about two-thirds length of 

 eye, nine more or less developed on lower and three on upper limb of 

 of first arch; lateral line somewhat arched anteriorly, descending to 

 middle of side under anterior half of second dorsal; scales moderate, 

 ctenoid, extending on aU the fins, densely covering soft dorsal and 

 anal, about nine scales between lateral line and base of first dorsal 

 spine, and about eight between it and middle of second dorsal; dorsal 

 fins separated by a distance scarcely exceeding pupil of eye, the spines 

 of first dorsal slender, the third the longest, not reaching beyond the 

 tip of any of the succeeding spines if deflexed, scarcely longer than 

 longest soft rays, 2.3 in head; caudal fin somewhat rounded, the 

 middle rays being longest; anal with round margin, its origin about 

 under middle of soft dorsal, its base 2.5 in head, ventral inserted just 

 behind base of pectoral, 1.75 in head; pectoral moderate, pointed, 

 reaching opposite tip of ventral, the fifth ray (counting downward) 

 the longest, 1.5 in head, 5.0 in length. 



Color grayish brown above; silvery below; inside lining of opercle 

 largely black; membrane of subopercle with dusky punctulations; 

 dorsal fins and caudal dusky; axil of pectoral dark. 



This species is represented among the Peruvian material by a single 

 specimen, 350 mm. (292 mm. to base of caudal) long, taken by the 

 Mission in the Gulf of Guayaquil, off Puerto Pizarro. It is apparently 

 rather rare, being known only from a few specimens taken at La Uni6n, 

 El Salvador, and some others from Panama Bay. The specimen from 

 Peru was compared with a somewhat larger one from Panama, with 

 which it in general agrees. It was noticed, however, that the pectoral 

 fins are less densely scaled in the Peruvian fish, and the ventral fine 

 are inserted immediately behind the bases of the pectorals, whereas 

 they are inserted under the bases of the pectorals in the Panama 



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