76 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Priacanthus meeki (not Jenkins) Jordan aud Evermann, Bull. U. S. Fish 

 Comm., vol. 23, pt. 1, 1903 (1905), p. 231 (Honolulu example).— Jordan 

 and HuBBS, Mem. Carnegie Mus., vol. 10, No. 2, June 27, 1925, p. 232 (Tatoku 

 Island; Misaki). 



Priacanthus arenatus (not Cuvier) Gilchrist and Thompson, Ann. South Afric. 

 Mus., vol. 6, 1908-1911, p. 148 (off Port Shepstone; Durban Harbor) ; Ann. 

 Durban Mus., vol. 1, pt. 4, May 21, 1917, p. 337 (part). 



Depth 2% to 3 ; head 2% to 31/5, width 2 to ^Ys- Snout 3l^ to ^% 

 in head from snout tip : eye 2^4 to 2%, greater than snout or inter- 

 orbital ; maxillary reaches 1/5 to %^ in eye, expansion 1% to 2 in eye, 

 length 1% to 2 in head from snout tip ; teeth small, pointed, in 2 or 

 3 irregular rows above, with outer row enlarged and lower teeth in 

 irregular row; narrow band of small teeth on vomer and palatines, 

 none on tongue ; interorbital 3% to 4, moderately convex ; preopercle 

 edge finely denticulate, with small spine at angle. Gill rakers 

 8 + 24, lanceolate, I/2 of eye; gill filaments 11/5 in gill rakers. 



Scales 112 to 119 counted along (above) lateral line to caudal base 

 and 8 to 10 more on latter; tubes 77 to 80 in lateral line to caudal 

 base and 7 or 8 more on latter; 14 or 15 scales above lateral line, 41 

 to 43 below, 60 to 66 predorsal; 15 to 17 rows on cheek. Supras- 

 capula small, entire; upper edge of shoulder girdle with few small 

 serrae. Scales with 30 to 32 small and rather irregular apical 

 denticles, in about 3 or 4 series transversely ; circuli fine. 



D. X, 14, I, fifth spine 2i/4 to 2i^ in total head length, first ray 

 114 to 1% ; A. Ill, 15, I or 16, I, third spine 1% to 21/2, fourth ray 

 1% to 1% ; caudal 1% to 1%, slightly emarginate behind to deeply 

 crescentic with age and 2% in rest of body; least depth of caudal 

 peduncle 4 to 5 ; pectoral 1% to 1% I ventral 1 to 1%. 



Back brown, paler below. Iris neutral gray. Vertical fins and 

 ventrals all with more or less neutral dusky on membranes, ventrals 

 paler basally. Pectoral pale. In young caudal often pale. 



Red Sea, Arabia, Zanzibar, Natal, Madagascar, Reunion, Bourbon, 

 Mauritius, Seychelles, India, Ceylon, East Indies, Philippines, For- 

 mosa, Japan, Melanesia, Hawaii. 



Known at all times chiefly by the dusky or blackish spot, often 

 diffused, at the bases of the rays of base of the ventral fin and usually 

 persistent. The vertical fins and the ventrals are always more or 

 less dusky or blackish. A handsome and variable fish, the caudal fin 

 becoming deeply lunate or crescentic with age. 



6506. Balikias Bay, southern Luzon. July 17, 1908. Length 320 mm. 



A505. Balukbaluk Island, south of Zamboanga. September 12, 1909. Length 



290 mm. Uniform vermilion. Soft fins dusky terminally. No black spots 



on vertical fins. 

 4837. Jolo market. February 11, 1908. Length 274 mm. 

 9227. Opol, Mindanao. August 14, 1909. Length 246 mm. 

 A509. Pilas Island, south of Zamboanga. September 12, 1909. Length 243 mm. 



