The Chopas 



in the Gulf of California. It reaches a foot in length and is a good 

 food-fish, but not abundant enough to be of much importance. It is 

 one of the most beautiful species of the family. 



Colour in life, dark steel-blue, paler below; body with about 12 

 vertical blackish bars; a dark streak from maxillary to angle of opercle; 

 a black opercular spot; fins mostly dark. 



GENUS KYPHOSUS LACEPEDE 



The Chopas 



Body elongate-ovate, regularly elliptical, moderately compressed; 

 head short, the snout blunt; eye large; mouth small, horizontal; max- 

 illary barely reaching eye; each jaw with a single series of rather 

 narrow, obtusely-lanceolate incisors, behind these a narrow band of 

 villiform teeth; fine teeth on vomer, palatines, and tongue; gill-rakers 

 long; preopercle scarcely serrate; scaling very complete, the space 

 between and about the eyes being the only naked part; scales small, 

 thick, ctenoid, 60 to 70 in the lateral line; scales entirely covering soft 

 parts of vertical fins and extending on paired fins; dorsal fin low, with 

 about 1 1 spines, which are depressible in a groove of scales, the fin 

 continuous, but the last spines low, so that a depression occurs be- 

 tween the 2 parts of the fin whose bases are about equal; anal with 3 

 spines; caudal moderately forked. 



This genus contains about 10 species, chiefly confined to the 

 Pacific, and most of them found in the Indian Ocean; about 5 species 

 within our waters, all food-fishes of excellent flavour. 



a. Soft part of anal very long and low, its longest rays }\ to 4 in head, 



and 3 in soft part of fin ; D. XI, 14 aiia/oous, 4^2 



aa. Anal fin moderately elevated in front, and rather short, its longest 

 rays i| to 2 in base of soft part of fin; D. XI, 11 or 12. 



b. Teeth rather narrow and subacute; maxillary short, barely reaching 



eye, about 3^ in head. 



c. Scales moderate, 10-65-20; A. Ill, i ^ incisor, 453 



cc. Scales smaller, about 12-67-20; A. Ill, 11 elegans, 453 



ccc. Scales rather large, 10-55-16; A. Ill, 11 scctatrix, 453 



bb. Teeth broad and rounded; maxillary rather long, reaching pupil, 



}l in head '. Iittcsccus, 4s 3 



Kvphosiis analogiis, the salema, is found on the Pacific coast from 

 the Gulf of California to Mazatlan. It is not rare, reaches a length of 



452 



