EDIBLE FISHES OF XEW SOUTH WALES. 47 



PAGEUS UNICOLOR. 



GTirysoplirys unicolor, Quoy & Gaim. Toy. Uranie, p. 209. 



Par^rus unicolor, Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. vi. p. 160 ; Eicliards. Ichthyol. 



China, p. 242 ; Gnth. Catal. Pish. i. p. 468 ; Castehi. Proc. Zool. Soc. 



Vict. L872, i. p. 70 ; Kner, Toy. Novara, Pisch. p. 85 ; Macleay, Catal. 



Austr. Fish. i. p. 116 ; Woods, Fisher. N. S. Wales, p. 39, pi. viii. a7id 



Frontispiece ; Johnston, Proc. Zool. Soc. Tas. 1882, pp. 69, 111 ; 



Sherrin, Haudb. N. Z. Fish. p. 85. 

 Farjrus guttulntus, Ciiv. & Yal. Hist, ISTat. Poiss. vi. p. 160; Less. Voy. 



Coquille, Zool. ii. p. 188. 



Snapper. 



Plate XIII. 



B. Ti. D. 12/10. A. 3/8. y. 1/5. P. 15. C. 17. L. lat. 54-55. L. tr. 

 9-10/16-17. Coec. pyl. 4. Vert. 10/14. 



Length of head 4-25-4-50, of caudal fin 3-66-400, height of body S'OO- 

 3'33 in the total length. Diameter of eye 3'50-4"00 in the length of the 

 head, 1'40-1'80 in that of the snout, and 1'00-1"33 in the convex interorbital 

 space. Xostrils at some distance apart, the anterior small and subcircular, 

 the posterior much larger, elon^ate-ovoid, not entering the orbital ring. 

 Upper jaw a little the longer. Cleft of mouth moderate and slightly oblique, 

 the maxilla extending to beneath the anterior margin of the orbit or a little 

 beyond it. L^pper profile of head rounded in the young ; mature examples 

 with a conspicuous bony knob on the occiput, which in very old males 

 attains to an enormous development, and is accompanied by a corresponding 

 excrescence of smaller size on the snout. A short, compressed, blunt point 

 on the opercle. Both jaws with four small canines in front, and with a 

 lateral row of teeth, the anterior of which are conical, the others molariform ; 

 inside these are from one to three irregular series of small molars, with two or 

 three enlarged ones about midway. Dorsal spines rather weak, flexible, the 

 third, sometimes the fourth, the longest, 1'80-2 10 in the length of the 

 head ; the last spine about three fifths of the first ray, which is much lower 

 than the longest spines : the anal commences beneath the anterior dorsal 

 ray or last dorsal spine, and ends opposite or a little before the last ray; the 

 third spine is the longest, not much longer but slightly weaker than the 

 second, and from 2"75-3'15 in the length of the head ; the rays are very 

 little longer than the spines : the ventrals do not reach the vent ; the outer 

 ray is the longest, from l-30-l'40 in the length of the head ; the spine is 

 long and slender, longer than the highest dorsal spine : pectorals elongate 

 and falcate, reaching to above the first to fourth anal rays, and from one 

 tenth to one fifth longer than the head : caudal forked, the least height of 

 its pedicle about one fourth of the height of the body. Scales finely ctenid, 

 in six series between the eye and the angle of the preopei'cle, and in eight 

 across the opercle ; rest of the head naked. Lateral line curved to about 

 the anterior third of the spinous dorsal, from thence parallel to the dor?al 

 profile. 



Colors. — Varying w'ith age from silvery red in the young to bright redin 

 the adult, the upper parts of wdiich, especially the head, are tinted with 

 brown ; the abdominal region is pinkish or silvery ; the body is ornamented 

 with pale blue spots, which are numerous in the young and entirely disappear 

 in very old examples. 



