308 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 STELLIFER MINOR (Tschudi) 



mojarkilla 

 Figure 67 



Corvina minor Tschudi, 1845, p. 9, Lima market, Peru (original description). 

 Corvina agassizii Steindachneb, 1875a, p. 26, Callao and Paita, Peru, and 



Caldera, Chile (original description). — Cope, 1877, p. 26, Pacasmayo and 



Chimbote, Peru. 

 Stelliferus minor Jordan and Eigenmann, 1889, pp. 391, 393, Callao, Peru 



(diagnosis; range; agassizii synonymized). 

 Stellifer minor Abbott, 1899, p. 354, Callao, Peru.— Starks, 1906, p. 793, Callao, 



Peru. — EvERMANN and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 99, pi. 9, fig. 2, Pacasmayo and 



Chimbote, Peru (synonymy; description; range; relationship). — Nichols 



and Murphy, 1922, p. 510, Pacasmayo. 



Head 3.33; depth 2.75; D. XII-I, 20; A. II, 10; P. 18; scales 54. 



Body rather deep, compressed, its greatest thiclaiess scarcely half its 

 depth; back thin, elevated; outline straight over eyes, moderately 

 convex from posterior margin of eyes to origin of dorsal; head deep, 

 compressed, the bones not excessively cavernous; caudal peduncle 

 strongly compressed, 3.0 in head; snout blunt, not extending beyond 

 premaxillaries, 3.9 in head; eye moderate, round, 4.6; interorbital 2.9; 

 mouth oblique, nearly terminal; lower jaw included; maxillary 

 reaching about under middle of eye, 2.6 in head; teeth in each jaw in 

 a band, the outer ones in upper jaw slightly enlarged; preopercle with 

 serrate margin, the 2 spines at angle enlarged, the lowermost one 

 directed downward; gill rakers slender, the ones at angle about 

 three-fourths length of eye, 23 on lower and 13 on upper limb of first 

 arch (not 6, as stated by Evermann and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 100) ; lateral 

 line with a long arch, becoming horizontal over origin of anal; scales 

 firm, ctenoid, becoming smooth on head, but not on chest, extending 

 on second dorsal, caudal, and anal, but not covering entire fins, extend- 

 ing slightly on bases of pectoral and ventral, none on first dorsal, the rows 

 above lateral line more or less parallel with it, 7 rows between it and 

 first dorsal spine; dorsal fins slightly connected, the spines low, 

 stronger than in related species, the second one not stronger or much 

 shorter than the third, the fourth longest and not reaching beyond tip 

 of succeeding spines, if deflexed, 2.0 in head; second dorsal highest 

 anteriorly, the longest rays fully as long as the longest spines; caudal 

 injured in the specimen at hand, described as "subtruncate" (Ever- 

 mann and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 100); second anal spine moderately 

 slender, notably shorter than longest soft rays, 2.6 in head; ventral 

 inserted just behind base of pectoral, 1.5 in head without filament; 

 pectoral long, pointed, reaching well beyond tip of ventral, as long 

 as head, 3.33 in length. 



Color of old preserved specimen brown above; this color shading 

 into the pale color of the lower parts; definite dark li^es along the 



