FISHES OF WEST COAST OF PERU. 109 



Family OPLEGNATHIDAE. 

 Genus OPLEGNATHUS Richards. 



IS8. OPLEGNATHUS INSIGNIS (Kner). 

 lORO; LORITO; PERICO. 



Scarostoma insigne Knek, Neue Fische Mus. Godfrey, Sitz. Akad. Wiss. 



Wien, vol. 56, 1867, p. 7, pi. 2 ; West Coast of South America. 

 Oplegnathus insignus Abbott, Marine Fislies of Peru, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scl. 



Phila., 1899, p. 359.' 

 Oplegnathus insigne Snodgkass and Helleb, Shore Fishes of the Galapagos 



Islands, Proc. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 6, 1905, p. 397. 



One specimen, field No. 09570, 16.5 cm. long, from Paita, and 

 two specimens, field Nos. 09475 and 09501, respectively 21 and 4 

 cm. long, from Lobos de Afuera. 



Head 3.03 in length ; depth 2 ; eye 5.04 in head ; snout 2.25 ; pectoral 

 1.31; D. XI, 17; A. Ill, 13. 



Body strongly compressed, deep, greatest depth 2 in length; 

 depth of caudal peduncle 2.2 in head; head short; snout pointed; 

 eyes small ; mouth small ; maxillary reaching vertical from anterior 

 border of eye ; teeth soldered together, resembling the teeth of some 

 of the scaroids; border of preopercle armed with fine serrations; 

 opercle ending in a spine; dorsal spines stout, membranes deeply 

 incised; soft dorsal and anal high, truncate; caudal lunate; anal 

 spines short, stout, of about equal length; tips of ventrals reach- 

 ing vent; pectoral short, not falcate; scales very small, strongly 

 ctenoid; soft parts of vertical fins scaled; lateral line strongly 

 arched, parallel with contour of back. Description of No. 09475 

 from Lobos de Afuera. 



No. 09501, 4 cm. in length, from Lobos de Afuera, has head 2.66 

 in length; depth 2.13; eye 4 in head; snout 3.43; maxillary 3.43; 

 pectoral 1.41; D. XI, 17; A. Ill, 13. 



The marked changes in coloration at the different stages of 

 growth noted by Snodgrass and Heller in Galapagos specimens are 

 apparent in these. In the individual 4 cm. long the ground color is 

 3^ellowish white crossed by black vertical bars, the first an ocular 

 band meeting its fellow on nape and breast, slightly narrower than 

 eye ; the second from origin of dorsal downward and forward across 

 opercle, bending backward across base of pectoral and meeting its 

 fellow in front of base of ventrals ; the third crossing posterior half 

 of spinous dorsal and body, meeting its fellow on middle of area 

 between ventral and anal base; the fourth extending across middle 

 of soft dorsal, body, and anterior half of anal; fifth crossing pos- 

 terior fourth of soft dorsal, caudal peduncle and tips of anal rays; 

 the sixth narrower than the others and crossing base of caudal. 



