416 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Family STROMATEIDAE: Fiatolas 



Body compressed, ovate to elongate; anterior profile generally 

 quite blunt and rounded; mouth rather small; premaxillaries usually 

 not protractile; teeth in jaws small in a single series, generally wanting 

 on palatines; esophagus with lateral sacs, bearing teeth internally; 

 gills four, a slit behind the fourth; lateral line well developed; scales 

 small; dorsal fin long, with a few weak spines, often obsolete; anal with 

 three or more spines, the fin sometimes as long as second dorsal; 

 ventral fins inserted below or somewhat behind pectorals, with one 

 spine and five soft rays in young, often reduced or obsolete in adults. 



KEY TO THE GENERA 



a. Ventral fins absent in adults; gill membranes united; anal with about 32 to 



40 rays Stromateus (p. 416) 



aa. Ventral fins not disappearing with age; gill membranes not united; anal with 

 about 16 to 27 rays Leirus (p. 417) 



Genus STROMATEUS Linnaeus, 1758 



Body ovate, compressed; mouth small; premaxillaries not protrac- 

 tile; maxillary not hidden by preorbital; palatine teeth wanting; 

 opercular bones entire or minutely denticulate; gill membranes 

 united, free from the isthmus; pseudobranchiae present; gill rakers of 

 moderate length; branchiostegals 6; dorsal and anal fins long, the 

 spines of dorsal feeble, graduated; caudal forked; ventrals thoracic, 

 absent in adults; pelvis not projecting as a spine; vertebrae about 46 

 (modified after Regan, 1902, p. 203). 



STROMATEUS MACULATUS Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Stromateus maculatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1833, p. 399, Valparaiso, Chile; 

 also reported from Lima, Peru (original description).- — Regan, 1902, p. 204 

 (description; reported from "Pacific coast of S. America"). 



"Depth of body 2)^ times in total length, length of head 4^ times. 

 Snout longer than the eye, the diameter of which is 5 times in the length 

 of the head, interorbital width 3 times. Maxillary not extending to 

 below the eye. D. VII 40-43, the rays increasing in length to the 

 tenth soft ray, which is half the length of bead. A. Ill 38. Pectoral 

 longer than the head. Caudal lobes as long as the head. Gill-rakers 

 less than % the eye-diameter, 12 on lower part of the anterior arch. 

 Blue above, silvery below; numerous round dark spots on the upper 

 half of the body. Total length, 200 millim." (Regan, 1902, p. 204). 



This species has not been taken in Peru by recent collectors. I have 

 seen no specimens. 



/^an^e.— "Pacific Coast of S. America" (Regan). Originally de- 

 scribed from Valparaiso, Chile, and reported as common in the market 

 at Lima, Peru, from May to July, by Cuvier and Valenciennes (see 

 reference above). A specimen from "Rio Grande do Sul, South 



