THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 473 



orbital about equal to diameter of eye; mouth small, slightly inferior, 

 its angle about under anterior margin of lower eye; jaws curved; lips 

 fringed, the upper one overhanging gape; teeth not evident, lateral Hne 

 about equally developed on both sides, with an indistinct vertical 

 branch anteriorly; scales small, difficult to enumerate accurately, 

 ctenoid on both sides, missing on most of opercle on blind side, four 

 enlarged series over head,'one on margin of body and three on base of 

 dorsal rays, extendhig forward on snout and on the rays of fins, some 

 scales with minute hairlike cirri; first ray of dorsal on anterior margin 

 of head, its longest rays about as long as head without snout, caudal 

 rounded, as long as head; anal and ventral of ocular side connected, 

 the membrane between last ray of ventral and the first of anal a little 

 wider than the other interradial membranes, first ray of anal a little 

 behind vertical from margin of opercle ; ventral of blind side very close 

 to that of ocular side and parallel with it, each with five rays. 



Color brownish, with many pale markings, consisting of curved and 

 irregular lines, circles, and spots; fins brownish at base, lighter distally. 



The description is based on a small specimen 46 mm. (35 mm. to 

 base of caudal) long, dredged in shallow water in Guayaquil Bay, off 

 Puerto Pizarro, by the Mission. This species is now recorded from 

 Peru for the first time. The specimen described was compared with 

 the original description and with a redescription of the type by Cha- 

 banaud (1928, p. 18), as well as with a larger specimen from Panama 

 Bay. The discrepancies, such as the narrower interorbital, the 

 almost equally advanced eyes, the fewer hairlike cirri, and the light 

 color in less definite spots probably may be ascribed to the extreme 

 youth of the Peruvian specimen. The Panama specimen (70 mm. long), 

 though not so large as the type (81 mm. long, according to Chabanaud), 

 has a wider interorbital, the upper eye is well in advance of the lower, 

 the dermal cirri are much longer and more numerous, and the light 

 color is more definitely concentrated in spots. It possesses a blunt 

 spine, placed just above upper lip on ocular side, possibly a male 

 character, which the Peruvian fish does not have. The following 

 proportions and enumerations are based on the Panama example: 

 Head in length 3.5; depth 1.6. Eye in head 13; snout 3.0; inter- 

 orbital 15; caudal peduncle 1.9. D. 50; A. 35; scales about 73. 

 This species is known only from the 3 specimens mentioned. 



Range. — El Salvador to northern Peru. Previously known from only 

 as far south as Panama Bay. 



Family CYNOGLOSSIDAE: Tonguefishes 



Body elongate; eyes small, very close together, on left side; pre- 

 opercle without free margin, being hidden by sldn and scales; caudal 

 fin fully united with dorsal and anal fins; pectorals wanting; ventrals, 

 if present, free from anal. 



