FAMILY LABRIDAE — SCHULTZ 141 



SPECIMENS STUDIED 



USNM 112368, holotype, Rongelap Atoll, Kieshiechi Island, lagoon, depth 20 

 feet, July 24, 1946, S-46-285, Brock and Herald, standard length 38.5 mm, 



USNM 112369 to 112372; paratypes, Bikini Atoll, 10 specimens, 23 to 57 mm,, 

 Univ, Washington, paratype, Bikini Atoll, Amen Island, 1 specimen, 43 mm. 



Description. — Dorsal rays IX,10; anal 111,8; pectoral ii,10; pelvics 

 1,5; branched caudal fin rays 6+5; pores in lateral lines 14 or 15+6 

 or 7; scales above lateral line 2, below lateral line to anal origin 6; 

 vertical scale rows 20 or 21; gill rakers on first arch about 6 + 9. 



Certain measurements made on the holotype and two paratypes, 

 expressed in thousandths of the standard length, are recorded in 

 table 96, 



Body compressed, the greatest depth opposite middle of spinj^ 

 dorsal base; snout normal; dorsal profile of head straight or nearly so, 

 forming an angle of 40 to 46 degrees with ventral contour of head and 

 body; interorbital space slightly convex; nostrils small, the anterior 

 one tubular; a vertical line through rear nasal opening passes through 

 front edge of eye; jaws approximately equal; maxillary reaches to a 

 vertical line through front nostril; maxillary covered by preorbital 

 when mouth is closed; dentary normal; premaxillary protractile; 

 teeth short, conical, in a single row in both jaws, those near front of 

 both jaws becoming gradually enlarged, the 2 pairs nearest tip of jaws 

 largest, and when mouth is closed, those of lower jaw fitting between 

 the two opposite teeth in upper jaw and not by pairs of teeth; gill 

 membranes broadly joined across isthmus and forming a free fold; 

 head with a distinctive scale pattern composed of large scales with 

 definite shapes as follows : Cheek with a single row of enlarged scales, 

 below which on subopercle is another row, and a single scale below 

 the latter; 3 rows behind eye, including gill cover; dorsal surface of 

 head scaled forward to snout just in front of orbits, the 2 anteriormost 

 scales median in position, then 3 in middle of interorbital space, 

 followed by 2 larger ones between rear of orbits, then about 5 scales to 

 dorsal fin origin ; above dorsal lateral line is a row of large scales, then 

 a second row along spiny dorsal fin, mostly covering the spines except 

 tips, the row becoming much smaller along soft rays and almost dis- 

 appearing on base of last ray ; anal fin mth a similar sheath of scales ; 

 basal half of caudal fin enclosed in large scales; axillary scale of pelvic 

 short; pectoral fin reaches to opposite about 7th scale of lateral line; 

 lateral line interrupted, beginning again 2 scale rows below on caudal 

 peduncle; 4th pectoral ray usually longest; pelvics reaching or nearly 

 reaching anus; caudal fin rounded. 



Color in alcohol. — Background coloration light brownish to brown- 

 ish, with a brown-edged white bar across caudal peduncle just behind 

 rear of bases of soft dorsal and soft anal fins, and another brown- 



