FAMILY MUGILOIDIDAE — SCHULTZ 271 



of the maxillary slips under the preorbital; the two nasal openings 

 separated by a wide dermal isthmus; premaxillaries protractile; 

 pehdcs inserted a little in front of pectoral fin bases, third dorsal 

 spine longest; fourth pelvic soft ray longest. 



Color in alcohol. — Background color whitish, the sides with about 9 

 vertical bars narrower than the pale interspaces, bars fading ventrally 

 so that they do not always meet their fellow along the midventral 

 line; base of pectoral brownish to dark brownish, forming an additional 

 bar; no dark band across breast; dorsally the dark bars more or less 

 join with their neighbor to form a W-shaped pattern along the upper 

 sides and back; a brownish line extends lengthwise below lateral line; 

 every second or third dorsal ray at base with a dark spot, these oc- 

 cmTing where the dorsal dark bars meet along the middorsal line; 

 dorsal surface of head with dark spots, usually a pair near middorsal 

 line of head behind interorbital space most prominent followed by 

 another pair halfway to dorsal origin; cheek with a prominent dark 

 blotch, another on operculum, these two separated by a bright silvery 

 blotch; snout and front of lower jaw brownish; a large brown blotch 

 laterally on upper and lower lips; caudal fin variously dark spotted and 

 blotched basally, sometimes the basal blotch is solid blackish followed 

 in the middle caudal fin rays ^vith a white blotch; paired fins white; 

 anal white; dorsal fin ^Nath a few dark dots. 



Color v)hen alive. — (From a kodachrome) : Upper part of body and 

 head pale brownish tinged with orange, undersides white; anal fin 

 pale yellomsh orange, pelvics pale orange; two pale yellowish orange 

 bars cross on underside of mouth largely faded in the alcoholic speci- 

 mens. 



A color drawing of this species in the Philippine Albatross collection 

 has the tips of the median fins blue, pectoral pale orange, pelvics 

 bright orange, bars on sides of body reddish brown; the two dark 

 spots below orbits brown bordered by yellow-orange; pale areas 

 dorsally light bluish. 



Ecology. — This abundant species in the Northern Marshall Islands 

 occurred in the sandy areas. It lives under coral slabs, or partly 

 concealed in the sand. 



Remarks. — During this study the Marshall Island material was 

 compared with specimens from other localities, with the exception of 

 the Philippines. It agreed reasonably well with the description by 

 Scale and by Martin and Montalban. All the specimens reported 

 upon by Schultz (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 180, p. 269, 1943) as Para- 

 percis tetracanthus are this species as well as those from the Samoan 

 Islands reported upon by Jordan and Scale. We have specimens from 

 the Fiji Islands and Okinawa. This indicates a very extensive range 

 for P. cephalopunctatus. 



