113. PLEUEONECTIDiE — PLEURONICHTHYS. 829 



short, blunt snout; mouth small, with several series of slender, acute 

 teeth, which are most developed on the blind side, and are often want- 

 ing in one or both jaws on the colored side; no teeth on vomer or pala- 

 tines; lips thick, with several lengthwise folds, within which is a series 

 of short fringes. Lower pharyngeals narrow, each with a double row 

 of very small teeth. Gill-rakers wide-set, very short and weak. Lat- 

 eral line nearl^^ straight, with a dorsal branch in our species. Scales 

 small, cycloid, non-imbricate, imbedded. Dorsal fin anteriorly twisted 

 from the dorsal ridge toward the blind side; anal fin preceded by a 

 spine; caudal tin convex behind. Intestinal canal elongate. Herbiv- 

 orous species, feeding chiefly on algJB. Pacific Ocean, (-/cupov, side; 



iy^Ou:;^ fish.) 



a. Dorsal tin begiuuiug on the level of the lower lip; interocular ridge with blunt 

 or sharpish tubercles. 



1277. P. deciirrcns J. & G. 



Color brownish, usually much mottled with chocolate and grayish, 

 often finely spotted with brownish on body and fins. Eyes very large, 

 3J in head ; a blunt tubercle in front of upper eye, another at each end 

 of the narrow interorbital ridge, the posterior largest, but usually not 

 spine-like; two or three above the latter behind the upper eye; some 

 prominences above the opercle; a band of teeth on the right side of 

 the lower jaw, similar to that on the blind side, but narrower. Ver- 

 tical fins high, the longest dorsal and anal rays two-thirds the length 

 of the head. Dorsal beginning very low, on level of end of maxillary', 

 its first nine rays on the blind side. Head 3|; depth 14. D. 72; A. 46 

 L. 12 inches. Coast of California; rather common in deep water. 



(Plenrotnchtlu/s cocriosus Lockington, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns. 1879, 97. Pleuronlchtliyu 

 qnadrituhercidatm Jor. & Gilb. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 50, ncc Pallas; Jordan Cfc 

 Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 453.) 



aa. Dorsal fin beginning on the level of the npper lip. 



b. Interocular ridge posteriorly with a strong, backward-directed spino. 



137§. P. vcrticalas Jordan & Gilbert. 



Color dark olive brown, njottled with lighter and darker, sometimes 



with light grayish spots ; middle of sides often with a dark spot ocel- 



lated with light olive, this again surrounded by darker; fins light, often 



tinged and margined with reddish, and mottled with blackish. Eyes 



large, 3J in head ; a tubercle in front of each eye, and one at anterior 



end of interorbital ridge; posterior end of ridge with a strong, sharp, 



backward directed spine; a tnbercle behind npper eye; right side of 



lower jaw without teeth. Dorsal and anal fins lower than in P. dccur- 



