THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 357 



Color grayish, the larger specimen at hand brownish; pale grayish 

 brown underneath; a row of pale obscure spots, irregular in size and 

 shape, situated along lateral line; ventral fins pale, the other fins more 

 or less brownish. 



Two specimens, 345 and 425 mm. (293 and 365 mm. to base of caudal) 

 long, are included in the collections from Peru. The smaller one was 

 taken by the Mission in a trammel net at Pachacamac Island, and the 

 larger one was collected by R. E. Coker at Mollendo. The propor- 

 tions and enumerations pertaining to the smaller specimen are given 

 first in each instance. The smaller specimen has shorter, coarser 

 teeth, and the ventral fins are coated with notably thicker skin. 



Range. — Coasts of Peru and Chile. 



Family URANOSCOPIDAE: Stargazers 



Body elongate, more or less compressed, at least posteriorly; head 

 large, broad, at least partly covered with bony plates; eye small, 

 superior; mouth vertical; maxillary broad, without a supplemental 

 bone ; premaxillaries protractile; teeth pointed, present on jaws, vomer, 

 and palatines; gill openings wide; gill membranes nearly separate, 

 free from istlimus; gills ?>]{, a slit behind the last; branchiostegals six; 

 scales, if present, small; spinous dorsal small or wanting soft dorsal 

 and anal moderately long; caudal round or truncate, not forked; 

 ventral fins jugular, close together each with one spine and five soft 

 rays; pectoral large, broad at base. 



A single genus is represented in the collections from Peru. 



Genus ASTROSCOPUS Brevoort, 1860 



Body robust; head large, more or less flat above, its upper surface 

 with a Y-shaped bone, the arms of the fork reaching forward to in- 

 terorbital, two roughly triangular or more or less quadrangular naked 

 areas behind and inward from eyes (often depressed in preserved 

 material), marking location of electric organs; anterior nostril in front 

 of eye, round, with fringed margin; posterior nostril with crescent- 

 shaped groove on inner side of eye, its margin fringed; lips fringed; 

 back and sides with scales; two dorsal fins, the first consisting of four 

 or five sharp spines. 



A single species, herein recorded from Peru for the first time, comes 

 within the scope of this catalog. 



ASTROSCOPUS ZEPHYEEUS Gilbert and Storks 



Asiroscopus zephyreus Gilbert and Starks, in Gilbert, 1897, p. 453, pi. 53, fig. 2, 

 and pi. 54, Magdalena Bay, Baja California (original description). — Meek 

 and HiLDEBRAND, 1928, p. 907, Panama Bay (references; description; range). 



Head 2.3 to 2.4; depth 3.0 to 3.9; D. V-13 or 14; A. 13 or 14; P. 20 

 or 21 ; scales about 75. 



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