NO. 1714. JAPANESE SEA BASS.^TORDAN AND RICHARDSON. 435 



6. Genus STEREOLEPIS Ayres. 



Stereolepis Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad., vol. 2, 1859, p. 28 (gigas). 



Megaperca Hilgendorf, Sitzb. Ges. Nat. Freund. Berlin, 1878, p. 155 (ischinagi). 



Body robust, moderately compressed; mouth rather large, pro- 

 tractile; maxillary with supplemental bone; jaws, vomer, and pala- 

 tines with bands of villiform teeth; no canines; tongue smooth; 

 preopercle serrated, some antrorse spines on its lower border in young 

 (up to 14 inches; absent in full-grown specimens); opercle with 2 

 flat spines; gill rakers stoutish, of moderate length; branchiostegals 

 7; scales small, ctenoid on posterior portion of body; cheeks and 

 opercles scaled; lateral line complete; dorsal fins confluent, with a 

 deep notch between spinous and soft dorsal; "anterior dorsal with 11 

 or 12 spines, its base much longer than that of soft dorsal, which has 

 no spine; anal III, 8; caudal truncate or slightly emarginate; ven- 

 trals a little in front of pectorals, close together, with a strong spine; 

 pectorals obtusely pointed. 



"Vertebrse 26 (12 + 14)." 



Coasts of California and Japan; two species. Both reach an enor- 

 mous size, being among the largest of the perch-like fish. 



{a-epsoc, thick; Xszic, scale.) 



6. STEREOLEPIS ISCfflNAGI (Hilgendorf). 

 ISHINAGI (rock bass); OIWO (huge-fish). 



Megaperca ischinagi Hilgendorf, Sitzb. Ges. nat. Freund. Berlin, 1878, p. 156 

 (Tokyo and Yokohama). — Steindachner and Doderlein, Denkschr. Akad. 

 Wien, vol.27, 1883, p. 228, pi. 3, fig. 3 (young) (Tokyo).— Jordan and Sny- 

 der, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 23, 1901, p. 354 (Tokyo). 



Stereolepis gigas (part, not of Ayres) Boulenger, Cat. Fishes, vol. 1, 1895, p. 153; 

 Proc. Zool. See. London, 1897, p. 917, pi. 52, lower figure (from photograph 

 of type of Megaperca ischinagi); Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 19, 

 1907, pp. 489, 491. 



Stereolepis ischinagi Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 30, 1906, 

 p. 841, fig. 1 (young) (Hakodate; Tokyo; Yokohama; Misaki). 



Having had no additional materials, we here reproduce the descrip- 

 tion of a 14-inch specimen from Hakodate, by Jordan and Snyder:" 



Head 2.90 in length to base of caudal; depth 2.6; depth of caudal 

 peduncle 8.5; snout 3.4 in head; maxillary 2.25; eye 5; width of 

 interorbital space 4; dorsal XII, 11; anal III, 7; scales 14-87-31. 

 Interorbital space flat; lower jaw projecting; preorbital and sub- 

 orbital with strong ridges, the suborbital ridges uniting to form a 

 single crest, which extends upward behind the eye; lips thick; maxil- 

 lary extending to a point below posterior edge of orbit, its upper edge 

 covered anteriorh'^ by the preorbital; supplemental maxillary dis- 

 tinct, its lower edge with a pronounced ridge. Teeth in broad villi- 



oProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 30, 1906, p. 841. 



