2IO HELLER AND SNODGRASS 



ELEOTRIS TUBULARIS sp. nov. 



pi. x. 



Type. Cat. No. 6348, Leland Stanford Jr. University Museum. 

 Cocos Island. 



Diagnosis. Scales 46, 16; eye greater than interorbital width; 

 anterior nostril tubes extending beyond mouth ; maxillary reaching to 

 below middle of eye. Head long, two and sixth sevenths in length. 



Description of the Type. Head two and sixth sevenths in length ; 

 depth four and three fourths ; width of head four and one sixth ; eye 

 four and one half in head ; maxillary two and three fifths ; interorbital 

 five; D. VI-I, 8; A. I, 8; scales 46, 16. 



Body short and compressed posteriorly. Dorsal profile low, highest 

 at the beginning of the dorsal fin, descending obliquely to tip of snout. 

 Head broad and depressed ; interorbital region flat or slightly concave ; 

 mouth large, oblique, with lower jaw projecting. Teeth in both jaws 

 small and subequal. Maxillary long, extending to vertical from middle 

 of pupil. Anterior nostril with long tubes extending considerably be- 

 yond the snout. Preopercular spine blunt, concealed and turned for- 

 ward. 



Scales large, ctenoid, forty-six in a line from angle of opercle to end 

 of vertebrae ; sixteen longitudinal series between dorsal fin and ven- 

 trals. 



Dorsal fins separated by a slight interspace, spinous portion rounded 

 and slightly lower than soft portion ; soft dorsal attached to seventh 

 spine, angular in outline, all the rays being of nearly equal length. 

 Anal fin similar to soft dorsal but more rounded, beginning posterior 

 to origin of soft dorsal. Caudal fin long, three and one fourth in 

 length, rounded. Pectorals obtusely pointed, reaching beyond origin 

 of anal fin, rays sixteen. Ventrals pointed, inner rays longest, sepa- 

 rated by an interval slightly more than one half the eye. 



Coloration in Alcohol. Above olive-brown, darkest on the head 

 and snout ; belly lighter brownish ; dorsal, anal and caudal fins closely 

 barred with dusky; pectoral and ventral fins lighter, with less con- 

 spicuous dusky bars. 



The nearest American ally of this species is E. amblyopsis of Sur- 

 inam from which it differs chiefly in the much larger eye and longer 

 head. 



