Dec. 28, 1916. Fishes of Panama — Meek and Hildebrand. 339 



Body robust, compressed; mouth small, the premaxillary not greatly 

 protractile; gill-rakers minute; margin of lower lip free at sides; teeth 

 conical, none of them canine-like; anal spines 3; upper portion of 

 anterior gill-arch without a lamelliform lobe. 



This genus contains a large number of species which inhabit the 

 waters of South America, one species only occurring as far north as 

 Panama. 



72. /Equidens coeruleopunctatus (Kner & Steindachner). 

 Acara cceruleopunctata Kner & Steindachner, Sitzungsb. K. Bayer. Ak. 

 Wiss. Munchen, 1863, 222, and Abhandl. K. Bayer. Ak. Wiss. 

 Mtinchen, X, 1864, 16, PI. II, fig. 3 (Rio Chagres, Isthmus of 

 Panama); Gunther, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, VI, 1869, 449 (Rio 

 Chagres); Steindachner, Denkschr. K. Ak. Wiss Wien, XLI, 1880, 

 56 (Rio Cauca); Regan, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 7, XV, 

 1905, 336, and Biol. Cent. Amer., Pisces, 1906, 16 (Rio Chagres, 

 Panama; N. W. Ecuador). 

 Mquidens coeruleopunctatus Eigenmann & Bray, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci., 

 VII, 1894, 616; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., XLVII, 

 1898, 1514. 



Head 2.6 to 2.78; depth 2 to 2.3; D. XIV or XV, 9 to 11; A. Ill, 

 7 or 8. 



Body robust; anterior profile strongly convex; head short and heavy; 

 snout blunt, 2.53 to 3.8 in head; eye 3 to 4.45; interorbital much 

 broader than eye, except in very young; preorbital broader than eye in 

 large examples, but notably narrower than eye in young; mouth ter- 

 minal, rather small; the maxillary failing to reach eye, 3.1 to 3.8 in head; 

 lips not thickened, the margin of lower lip free at sides only; teeth in the 

 jaws conical, forming a band in each jaw; gill-membranes broadly con- 

 nected across isthmus; gill-rakers short, about 8 on lower arm of first 

 arch; lateral line interrupted under anterior rays of soft portion of dorsal, 

 reappearing on third row below its original course; scales rather large, 

 cycloid, i>^ to 2 rows between lateral line and middle of base of dorsal; 

 dorsal fin long, its origin over posterior margin of opercle, the spines 

 rather short and strong, the last one 2.2 to 3.3 in head, the soft portion 

 much elevated in large examples, the produced rays often reaching nearly 

 to tip of caudal, none of the rays much produced in the young and not 

 reaching far beyond base of caudal; caudal fin scaly at base, its margin 

 convex; anal fin with 3 strong spines, the soft portion similar to that of 

 dorsal; ventral fins inserted a little behind base of pectorals, reaching 

 origin of anal in young, a few of the rays produced in adult reaching oppo- 

 site the soft portion of anal; pectoral fins rather long, .97 to 1. 15 in head. 



