NO. 1714. JAPANESE SEA BASS.— -JORDAN AND RICHARDSON. 449 



vierra of Bloch, which has dorsal XI, 15, and pectorals shorter than head 

 and spotted like caudal.) 

 Serranus hexagonatus Steindachner and Doderlein, Beitr. Japan, vol. 1, 

 1883, p. 232 (Tokyo Bay). (Not Perca hexagonata of Forster, which is Ser- 

 ranus stellans of Richardson.) 



(Coasts of China and southern Japan.) 



Head 2.60; depth 3; eye noticeably large, in head 4.40, in maxil- 

 lary 2; dorsal XI, 17; anal III, 8; scales 13-98-42. Nose very 

 short, 4.52 in head; maxillary to back of orbit, 2.1 in head, 1.65 

 in pectoral. Interorbital space slightly convex, 1.8 in eye. Back 

 low; profile nearly straight to occiput, thence slightly steeper to 

 muzzle; muzzle short and blunt; lower jaw scarcely projecting. 

 Teeth in sides of lower jaws in 2 rows; canines moderate; posterior 

 nostril slightly the larger; preopercular angle scarcely produced, 

 armed with 3 or 4 moderately strong serratures; opercular spines 



Fig. 8.— Epinephelus megachir. 



equidistant; point of flap directed a little upward, nearer lateral 

 line than pectoral; gill-rakers 10+4 or 5 rudiments. Top of head, 

 cheeks, opercles, and chin covered with small scales; maxillary 

 smooth. Dorsal origin slightly behind pectorals; longest dorsal 

 spine (3d) 2.45 in head; longest soft ray 1.5 in base of fin; caudal 

 rounded; pectoral unusually large and long, 1.2 in head, much ex- 

 ceedmg length of portion of head behind eye; ventral 1.75. 



Color in spirits brown, with large darker hexagonal or roundish 

 spots, or unequal size, separated by narrow, almost linear, paler 

 intervals; largest of the dark spots nearly as large as eye, the num- 

 ber in a row between gill opening and base of caudal 11 or 12; dor- 

 sal, anal, and caudal fins marked as body; pectorals dusky, darkest 

 behind, the upper-anterior two-thirds with scattering small pale 

 spots; chin and lower jaw with 4 or 5 narrow dusky cross-bars; 

 breast with 3 somewhat wider bars. 

 Proc.N.M. vol.37— 09 29 



