78 



U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



List of specimens. 



SEBASTES, Cuv. 



Gen. Char. — Body rather short and contracted. Head largely developed ; upper surface with or without spines. Mouth 

 large ; inferior jaw tlio longest ; velvet or card-like teeth upon the prema.xillaries, dentaries, ilie front of the vomer, and 

 the palatines. Surface of the tongue smooth. Spines upon the preopercle and opercle. Gill openings continuous under the 

 throat ; branchiostegals seven on either side. Dorsal fins united at their base. Caudal posteriorly sub-crescentic or concave. 

 Insertion of ventrals posterior to the pectorals. Body covered with well developed pectinated scales, which e.xtend over the 

 head, opercular apparatus, cheeks and jaws, and also over a portion of the fins. 



Stn.— Se6aj(cs, Ccv. Regn. anim. (2d ed.) II, 1829.— Cuv. & Val. Hist. nat. Poiss. IV, 1829, 326.— Storer, Synops. 

 1846, 60. 



Three of the species described below, S. rosaceus, fasciatus, and melanops, present the remark- 

 able peculiarity of small elongated and slender scales, situated in the interstices of the scales of 

 the ordinary type. The same small scales are observed upon the cheeks and opercular appa- 

 ratus, though fewer than elsewhere. 



1. SEBASTES KOSACEUS, Grd. 



Platk XXI. 



Spec. Chab. — Upper surface of head provided with horizontal and acute ridges. Posterior extremity of maxillary extending 

 to a vertical line intersecting the pupil. Origin of dorsal fin situated in advance of the base of the pectorals. Uniform 

 reddish, lighter beneath than above. : 



Syn. — Seba^ea rosaceus, Giio. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 146. 



SdKistea ruber, Atiies, Proc. Gal. Acad. Nat. Sc. I, 1854, 7 ; and, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. V, 1855, 97. 



The general form of this species might at first be suggestive of S. norvegicus, were the central 

 rays of the first dorsal not so much higher than in the latter species, giving to the upper margin 

 of the fin alluded to, a decided convexity. 



The fish is rather stout than elongated, though much compressed, the greatest depth of the 

 body being equal to tlie third of tlic entire length, which is about fourteen inches, and nearly 

 equal to tlie length of the head. 



The upper surface of the head exhibits but two pairs of small and horizontal spines, whilst 

 the preopercle is provided with five of them, rather stout and conspicuous. We observe, like- 

 wise, two spines upon the edge of the opercle, the uppermost of which being the largest. Two 

 more spines may be seen upon the supra-scapular region. The eye is large and sub-circular, the 

 orbit being even with the upper surface of the head. Its horizontal diameter is contained four 

 times in the length of the side of the head, once in advance of the anterior rim of the orbit, and 

 twice posteriorly to the entire orbit. The mouth is broad ; but the posterior extremity of the 

 maxillary does not extend beyond a vertical line drawn through the centre of the pupil. 



