THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 497 



Genus THALASSOPHRYNE Giinther, 1861 



Body elongate; head and usually anterior part of body depressed; 

 mouth strongly oblique; lower jaw projecting; opercle with a strong 

 hollow spine; preopercle without free margin and without spine; teeth 

 conic or incisorlike, present on jaws, vomer, and palatines; lateral line 

 single; scales wanting; dorsal with two hollow spines; pectoral broad, 

 without a foramen in axil. 



A single, apparently new, species occurs in the collections from Peru. 

 The genus has not been reported heretofore from south of Panama 

 Bay. Venom glands are situated at the base of the hollow spines of 

 the opercle and the first dorsal, which serve as "hypodermic needles" 

 for the injection of the poison. 



THALASSOPHRYNE DEPRESSA. new species 



Figure 95 



Head 3.6; depth 5.1 ; D. II, 30; A. 28; P. 16. 



Body elongate, notably broader than deep at base of pectoral, 

 posteriorly strongly compressed; head low, depressed, much broader 

 than deep, its width at preopercular margin 4.25 in length, its anterior 

 margin broadly convex; caudal peduncle slender, 6.5 in head; snout 

 short, broad, 6.7 in head; eyes very small, superior, 11 in head, 1.75 

 in interorbital space; interorbital space flat, 6.6 in head; mouth very 

 strongly oblique; lower jaw projectmg, extending into dorsal profile; 

 maxillary reaching somewhat beyond posterior margin of eye, 2.2 in 

 head; teeth pointed, in a very narrow band anteriorly in each jaw, those 

 of lower jaw the larger; vomer and palatines with a single continuous 

 series of rather strong teeth ; anterior nostril near median line of snout, 

 ending in a short tube extending across premaxillary groove, posterior 

 nostril without a tube, situated in front of eye, and behind a short 

 simple tentacle on margin of premaxillary groove ; a single lateral line 

 beginning above base of pectoral spine, curved upward and running 

 along base of second dorsal to base of caudal, the membranous 

 margins of groove slightly fringed; a short groove beginning under 

 and in front of eye, ending about at upper anterior angle of preoper- 

 cular margin, being joined at about midlength by a groove originating 

 lower down on premaxillary groove; many pores on head, and also 

 a series along upper part of side below lateral line groove, most distinct 

 posteriorly; dorsal fins well separated, the first with two sharp spines 

 of about equal length, 2.8 in head, origin of fin over base of upper 

 rays of pectoral, its distance from margin of snout 4.0 in length; 

 second dorsal long and low, of nearly uniform height, the posterior 

 rays extending well beyond base of caudal, next to last one scarcely 

 equal to width of interorbital and both eyes; caudal attached to dorsal 



