NO. 1581. 



FISHES OF JAPAN-JORDAN AND RICHARDSON. 



637 



Habitat. — Southern Japan and China, north to Tokyo. 



Head, 2.8 in length \vithout caudal; depth, 7.5 to 9; depth of head, 

 3.5 in its length; width of head, 1.6; eye, 4.6 to 4.8; interorbital 

 space, 2.5 to 3 in eye; maxillary, 2.5; D. I-VIII-12; A. 12; scales, 

 70 to 80; lateral line smooth except for the first 3 or 4 scales, which 

 may bear small spines. 



Head moderately armed; superciliary ridges each mth about 6 

 low spine-like serratures, all behind middle of eye; a sharp spine in 

 front of and behind each superciliary ridge; infraorbital ridges with 

 two distant spines, one under middle of pupil, the other under back 

 of orbit; an upper short and a median long, smooth ridge on opercles, 

 each ending in a good spine; a short (anterior) and a long (posterior) 

 scapular spine on each side of nape; parieto-occipital ridges low, 

 beginning and ending with a rather low spine; 3 moderate post- 

 orbital spines on each side, without a continuous ridge; preopercular 

 spines 2 (with sometimes a minute third spine), hoih short, the 

 upper being about twice the length of the lower and contained 3 or 



Fig. 3.— Thysanopheys japonicus. 



more times in the diameter of orbit; a sharp and deep notch on the 

 edge of the opercular membrane directly under the preopercular 

 spines, -the membrane in front of the notch produced in a V-shaped, 

 tongue-like flap, which is as long as the upper preopercular spine; 

 jaws, vomer, and palatines with bands of fine villiform teeth; 

 vomerine bands short, obovate, placed lengthwise and reaching 

 scarcel}^ past front of palatines; no canine teeth; tongue emarginate, 

 sometimes with a very slight median convexity. 



Spinous dorsal noticeably higher than soft dorsal fui, the longest 

 spine 2.3 m head and about 1.25 times length of highest ray; anal 

 fill inserted under second ray of soft dorsal; margin of anal and soft 

 dorsal moderately notched to a depth (measured on ray forming 

 hinder boundary of notch) equal to nearly two-fifths of diameter of 

 orbit; pectorals 2 in head; ventrals 1.4, reaching a vertical from 

 third soft dorsal ray; caudal rounded. 



Color in alcohol, grayish-brown above, the back crossed by 6 

 obscure and ill-defined bands of darker; head obscurely and fuiely 

 specked and vermiculated ; cheeks below the suborbital ridge crossed 

 transversely by alternating obscure light and dark band-like mark- 



