DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF 

 FISHES FROM JAPAN AND THE RIU KIU ISLANDS. 



By JoHx Otterbeix Snyder, 

 Of HtiDifonJ rtiircr.sitii, Ctilifoniin. 



During the recent cruise of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries steamer 

 Albatross in the North Pacific Ocean and in the seas about Japan, 

 man}^ fishes were collected along the shores of Japan and to the south- 

 Avard as far as Okinawa. In the preparation of a report on these 

 fishes a number of new forms have been discovered. Descriptions 

 of 2 genera and 14 species heretofore unknown appear in the present 

 paper."* 



Family SYNGNATHID^. 



SIPHOSTOMA YOSHI, new species. 



Head 9 in length to base of caudal; depth 3.5 in head; eye 5.5; 

 snout 2.5; dorsal 48; rings 18+31. 



Body slender, the tail long; dorsal outline of snout concave; inter- 

 orbital space flat ; occiput convex. The snout bears ridges as follows : 

 a median one from the tip to interorbital space; a dorso-lateral one 

 extending from tip to supraorbital rim where it branches on inter- 

 orbital space; a pronounced median ventral one, and above this a 

 less prominent pair, the upper of which passes below nostrils and 

 eye. Occiput with 3 ridges, the outer ones having their origins above 

 the eye, and continued backward as the dorsal body keels. Ventral 

 surface of body rounded, without a median keel; no spines or very 

 strong keels on body or tail. 



Dorsal on 10.5 rings, 4 of which belong with the body ; the height 

 of rays about equal to depth of body. Anal minute. Caudal equal 

 in length to snout. Pectoral someAvhat over half as long as caudal. 



Color in spirits yellowish white; a dusky stripe, indefinite in out- 

 line, passing from tip of snout backward across head; body with 

 dusky reticulations which form a row of diamond-shaped figures on 



" Other species from the same region are described in a previous paper, Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., XXXV, pp. 93-111. 



Proceedings U.S. National Museum, Vol. XXXVI— No. 1688. 

 Proc. N. M. vol. xxxvi— 09 12 597 



