314 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



138. Megalocottus platycephalus (Pallas). 



No. 2401, a female specimen 13 inches long, with minute eggs, collected at Tareinski Harbor, 

 Kamchatka, Juno 21, 1900. This specimen appears to be M. platycephalus, though differing in some 

 respects from current descriptions. 



Head 3 in length; depth -5; eye 6.2 in head; snout 4; maxillary 2; mandible 1.6; interorbital 3.3; 

 dorsal ix-14; anal 12; pectoral 16; caudal 11, 8 of them forked; ventral 3; lateral line 36. 



Body depressed anteriorly, subterete posteriorly, dorsal outline nearly straight and horizontal from 

 tip of snout to tip of spinous dorsal when depressed, thence gradually sloping to base of caudal; ventral 

 outline sloping rapidly upward from tip of lower jaw to gill-.slits, from thence nearly straight; lower 

 jaw long and projecting, cleft of mouth nearly vertical; contour viewed from above, cofhn-shaped, or 

 long kite-shaped, widening rapidly from the tip of the truncate lower jaw to the preopercular spines 

 where it is broadest, from thence tapering gradually to the stoutish caudal pedimcle. 



Head short, broad, and flat; a large flat, sunken hexagonal area extending from the nasal spines 

 to the occiput, bounded on the sides by the high diverging supraocular and converging parietal ridges; 

 the postocular tubercle high, large and bhmt, pointing inward; occipital tubercle prominent, pear- 

 shaped, pointing backward, ending in a stout sharp spine; preopercidar spines covered with skin, 

 upper longer than eye, cur\'ed upward and inward, second about half as long as first, thii'd spine promi- 

 nent but blunt, fourth strong, pointing downward and forward; suborbital stay narrow, striate and 

 curved, upper opercular spine short, sharp, stout, almost concealed, pointing backward and downward 

 at the end of a high ridge, the round flap reaching considerably beyond the spine; 2 prominent tubercles 





^-^■'f 



y^^'-' 



Fig. 73. — Mi'galocottus pl.itycephalus (Pallas). 



at top of gill-slit, these sometimes spinous, and one or more stout suprascapular spines; a strong humeral 

 spine; teeth in strong villiform bands in jaw, a large patch on vomer, none on palatines; tongue large, 

 rounded and prominent; a well-developed symphesial knob; maxillary extending to posterior margin 

 of pupil; a deep cleft behind last gill, slit minute. Spinous dorsal lieginning a distance about equal 

 to snout behind tip of gill-flap, its base 1.5 in head, its foiuth si^ine longest. 2.5 in head, its margin 

 rounded, distance between it and soft dorsal equal to eye, latter high, largest ray 1.5 in head, its base 

 1.1 in head, its margin rounded, somewhat acute behind, the last rays somewhat produced; caudal 

 truncate, 1.5 in head; origin of anal below fourth dorsal ray, base 1.3 in head, rays stout, margin some- 

 what emarginate (scalloped), longest rays about 2.1 in head; pectoral very broad, the lowest rays short 

 and stout, membrane between them deeply incised, general outline rounded, upper ray short, base 

 procurrent along the edge of gill opening, length slightly longer than head, tip barely reaching origin 

 of anal; ventrals acute, outer ray stout, inner produced, length 1.2 in head, tips not reaching vent by 

 a distance greater than snout; skin naked; top of head warty, sides naked, no flaps anjTvhere; a row 

 of prominent prickly tuliercles between lateral line and dorsal; a few irregular small tubercles in a 

 row beneath lateral line posteriorly. 



Color in alcohol; Above uniform brown, sides below olivaceous, belly white; lower lip and cliin 

 uniform black; membranes of upper lip dusky, lower side of lower lip white, the exposed portion all 

 black; isthmus and edge of gill-cavity dusky; vertical fins irregularly mottled and blotched white 

 and brown: inside of pectoral marked with broad brown and narrower wliite crossbars, outside similarly 

 marked Ijut not so distinctly; \'i'ntral with 2 or 3 irregular brown crossbais with narrow white interspaces; 

 peritoneum white. 



