240 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



VERILUS SORDIDUS, Poey. (Figure 232.) 



rerihin xoriJidun, PoEY, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, il, 125, 1860, tali. 12, fig. 6 (Cuba); Repertorio, ii, 1.57, 1867; 

 Synopsis, 291, 1868; Enumeratio, 1875, 32.— Jordan and Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vii, 471. 



Body oblong, eomprossed, rather robu.st; caudal pedvincle short and thick; head large, 

 profile almost straight from snout to origin of spinous dorsal, and not at all steep. Snout 

 very short and blunt, 4 in head. Eye very large, 2J in head. luterorbital space flat, its 

 width 4| in head. Occipital keel very low. Preorbital very narrow, 7 in eye, nearly 20 in 

 head. Maxillary reaching uiiddle of eye, 2 in head. Mouth large, oblique, the lower jaw 

 projecting. Upper jaw A?ith a rather broad band of villiform teeth, the outer row scarcely 

 enlarged; two moderate canines in front of jaw, curved inward. Lower jaw with a single 

 series of teeth on the sides, this series giving place to a very narrow villiform band in 

 front, with two (sometimes duplicated) small canines directed nearly horizontally backward. 

 Vomer with a narrowly A-shajjed patch of teeth, without backward prolongation on median 

 line. Tongue and pterygoids without teeth. Gill-rakers numerous, their length almost 

 half diameter of eye; 17 on the lower part of the arch well developed. Preopercle with 

 posterior margin weak and flexible, almost entire, becoming somewhat serrate at the angle 

 and on lower limb; no distinct emargination, but the angle salient, membranaceous. 

 Scales large, the rows horizontal below the lateral line; those above rather irregular, the 

 series running upward and backward. Head scaly everywhere, the scales generally smaller 

 than on body; opercle with three rows of scales, very large, with one row on subopercle; 

 cheeks with many rows of scales, those in the middle very small; one or two rows on inter- 

 opercle. Base of soft dorsal and anal somewhat scaly. Branchiostegals 7. Spinous and 

 soft dorsals entirely separate; first spine 4i in second, which is 2| in head, the spines 

 thence becoming gradually shorter to ninth spine, which about equals length of first spine. 

 Last rays of dorsal and anal not produced; margin of soft dorsal slightly concave, the 

 anterior rays longest, 2 J in head; anal similar to soft dorsal, its margin rather more con- 

 cave; first soft rays extending beyond tips of last rays, when the fin is depressed. Anal 

 spines moderate, the third slightly longer than second, 2 J in head ; caudal fin short, broad, 

 moderately forked, the upper lobe longer, its length scarcely twice that of middle rays, 

 which are 2f in head. Pectorals long, reaching to origin of anal, li in head; ventrals 1§ 

 in head. 



Color in spirits dusky gray, slightly paler below ; tips of spinous dorsal and ventrals 

 jet black, the fins otherwise colored as the body; posterior edge of caudal dusky; lining of 

 gill cavity, peritoneum, and posterior part of mouth jet black. 



Eadial formula: D. ix, i, 10; A. Ill, 7; Scales: 4r-43-9; 41 pores. 



" L'espece est rare," writes Poey, " on la peche a de grandes profondeurs. On en prend 

 de cinq li\Tes." 



DENTEX, Cuvier. 

 Deniex, CuviER, R^gne Animal, ed. i, 1817, ii, 272; ed. ii, 1829, ii, 184. 



Lut;ianids with the body oblong, compressed, covered with ctenoid scales of mod- 

 erate size. Head large; teeth all sharp, in vdliform bands, with canines to the number of 

 3 or 4 in each jaw. Preorbitals entire, broad. Prcoperculum entire, with more than 3 rows 

 of scales; operculum not conspicuously armed. Gill openings broad. Branchiostegals 6; 

 p.seudobrauchiie present. Dorsal with 10 to 12 spines and 9 to 10 soft rays; anal with 3 

 spines ami 8 to 9 rays; the two vertical fins received in a furrow. Caudal more or less 

 forked. 



This genus, which is found in the temperate and tropical Atlantic, the Mediterranean, 

 the Red Sea, the Sunda Sea, and the Sea of Japan, is represented in deep water by one 

 species, identified by Vaillant with S. macropldhalmus. 



DENTEX MACROPHTHALMUS, (Block) Cuviek and Valenciennes. 



Sparus macrophihalmua, Bloch, Ichthyol., pi. 272.— Ri.sso, Ichth. Nice, 1810, 250. 

 Oichla macrophlhalma, Scn^VAnr.R, Bloch, Syst. Icbth., 1801, 337. 



