394 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



341. OITHARICHTHYS SPILOPTERUS Gunther. 

 Whiff. 



Citharichthys spilopferus Gunther, Catalogue of Fishes in British Museum, iv, 421, 1862; New Orleans, San 

 Domingo, and Jamaica. Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2685. 



Diagnosis. — Depth of body a Httle less than .5 length; head .28 length; mouth large, 

 jaws strongly curved, lower jaw slightly included, maxillary .4 length of head and extending 

 to posterior border of lower eye; teeth small; snout short; eye small, about .16 length of heac/ 

 gill-rakers short and slender, one-third diameter of eye, the number on 2 arms of first arch; 

 4-1-12; scales cycloid, the number in lateral series 45 to 48; dorsal rays 75 to 80, the fin arising 

 over anterior margin of eye, the longest rays .5 liead; anal rays about 60, the fin arising a 

 a little posterior to base of pectorals; pectorals about .5 length of head, the fin on blind side 

 only slightly shorter than other. Color: translucent greenish-brown, with dark spots; a few 

 dark blotches along bases of dorsal and anal fins, (spilopterus, spotted fin.) 



Ranges along the Atlantic coast from Brazil to New Jersey and is common 

 southward, but has not heretofore been recorded from North Carolina. Numer- 

 ous specimens, the largest 4.5 inches long, were caught with a trawl net, at a 

 depth of 9 fathoms, 2 miles east of Beaufort Inlet, on Sept. 1, 1899. The maxi- 

 mum length of the species is about 6 inches. 



^V,. 



■^ 



Fig. 182. Etrope. Etropus crossotus. 



Genus ETROPUS Jordan & Gilbert. Etropes. 



Small sinistral species with deep, ovoid body, covered with thin, deciduous, 

 ctenoid scales above, naked below; mouth very small, with slender, sharp, close- 

 set jaw teeth; no vomerine teeth; dorsal fin beginning over eye, ventral fins not 

 joined to anal, the left ventral inserted on edge of abdomen; lateral line straight. 

 Of the 3 species known from the Atlantic coast of the United States, the following 

 is recorded from North Carolina. {Etrojms, abdomen foot, in allusion to posi- 

 tion of ventral fins.) 



