SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 371 



Family URANOSCOPIDiE. The Star-gazers. 



The star-gazers are strongly marked, carnivorous marine fishes, living on 

 the bottom in shallow waters. Body elongate, very broad, slightly compressed; 

 head large, broad, with bony plates; mouth vertical, lower jaw strong and promi- 

 nent, premaxillaries protractile, maxillary broad; small teeth on jaws, vomer, 

 and palatines, eyes very small, on upper surface of head and directed upward; 

 gill-slits wide, gill-membranes not joined to isthmus; pseudobranchiiB present; 

 branchiostegals 6; pyloric cceca present; air-bladder usually lacking; skin either 

 naked or covered with small, smooth scales in oblique rows; lateral line high; 

 spinous dorsal fin either short or wanting; soft dorsal and anal rather long; caudal 

 truncate or rounded; pectorals with broad base, the lower rays very short; 

 ventrals jugular, the rays i,5, inner ray longest. Two American genera and 

 5 species, only 1 species known from the south Atlantic coast. 



Genus ASTROSCOPUS Brevoort. Electric Star-gazers. 



Body stout; upper part of head covered with bony plates in young, not 

 fully covered in adult; a Y-shaped bony process on top of head, between eyes; 

 a naked area on each side of the y ; a fringed groove or furrow extending forward 

 from behind and on inner side of eyes; head destitute of spines; nostrils and lips 

 fringed; back and sides covered with- small, densely set scales, head naked and 

 abdomen more or less so; first dorsal composed of 4 or 5 low, stout spines with 

 connecting membrane; caudal margin square or slightly rounded; pectorals and 

 ventrals rather large. The naked areas on the head give an electric shock when 

 touched. (Astroscopus, star gazer.) 



321. ASTROSCOPUS Y-GR^CUM (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



"Electric-toad"; Star-gazer. 



Uranoscopus y-graecum Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, iii, 308, 1829. 

 Upsilonphorus y-graecum, Jordan, 1886, 28; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 92; Beaufort. 

 Astroscopus anoplus, Yarrow, 1877, 207; Beaufort. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 372; Beaufort. 

 Astroscopus y-grcecum, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2307, pi. cccxxxiv, fig. 808; Beaufort, etc. 



Diagnosis. — Body compressed behind, robust forward, the depth .25 length; head (to 

 end of snout) .33 length; mouth large, turned upward, a fringe of stiff barbels on each jaw: 

 small, conical teeth in numerous bands in each jaw, teeth also on vomer and palatines; tongue 

 large and fleshy; maxillary .4 head; eyes protruding, very small, .08 head and .25 interorbital 

 space; bones of head with granular surface; on either side of Y-shaped bony ridge is a naked 

 area , and between the forks of the y is another; nostrils with branched fringe; each posterior 

 nos trU extends backward as a curved, fringed groove terminating behind eye; body scaled 

 except on belly, scales very small, about 80 in lateral series; head naked; a slight median keel 

 from ventral fins to vent; dorsal rays iv + i,12; anal rays 13; caudal margin nearly straight; 

 pectorals long and pointed, their broad base .5 length of head; ventral rays thick and fleshy. 

 Color: variegated and variable; upper parts dark brown, with numerous small, round, white 

 spots with a black edge; top of head not so dark as back, the spots elongated and interspersed 

 with irregular black lines; eyes, chin, and whiskers spotted; lower parts pale; fins with black 

 and white bands or stripes. {y-grcecum, Greek y, in allusion to the bony process on top of 

 head.) 



