SHORE FISHES OF GALAPAGOS ISLANDS 4! I 



Diagnosis. Differs from Ostracion camurum Jenkins 1 of the 

 Hawaiian Islands only in having the spots of the back black instead 

 of white. 



Description of the type. Head 3f in length ; depth 2f ; eye 2 J 

 in head; interorbital width ii; snout i^ in head. D. 9; A. 9; P. 10. 

 Length 113 mm. Profile of front of head steep, forming a prominent 

 angle before front of eye, back of which gently ascending to occiput ; 

 body deepest through base of pectoral, tapering regularly posteriorly 

 with gently rounded outlines ; angles of carapace rounded ; no spines 

 anywhere; sides with slight convexity; gill-slit not very oblique, 2^ 

 in interorbital width, a groove extending forward from its lower end 

 toward the snout; eye a little greater than length of gill-slit, 2^- in 

 head ; mouth small ; lips large, concealing the teeth ; teeth brown, 

 10 in each jaw, in a single series. 



Dorsal fin short, highest anteriorly, longest rays if in head; anal 

 similar to dorsal but not so high and more rounded ; pectoral rounded, 

 third and fourth rays longest, i^ in head; caudal fin truncate, the 

 angles rounded, 5 in length. 



Scutes of carapace covered with small tubercles, arranged most 

 thickly in center of each; 12 scutes in a line between eye and caudal 

 peduncle, 13 in a longitudinal series on belly, 10 in a transverse series. 



Color (in alcohol), back and sides blackish, belly pale greenish 

 yellow ; snout anteriorly, large spot below eye, and broad interorbital 

 band, yellow; dusky color of head before interorbital band darker 

 than that back of it; caudal peduncle brown, with a few rather large 

 white spots ; fins pale yellowish with dark-brown bases ; basal half of 

 caudal fin brown, the brown with concave crescentic posterior margin ; 

 carapace spotted above with small round black spots, these spots situ- 

 ated on center of each scute except on occiput where the position is 

 generally eccentric ; a few whitish spots on sides. 



Proportional measurements : Head 28 ; depth 36 ; interorbital width 

 24; eye n ; snout 24; gill-slit 10 ; longest dorsal ray 15 ; longest anal 

 ray 13; length of pectoral 21; median caudal rays 23; length of 

 dorsal edge of caudal peduncle 14; depth of caudal peduncle 10. 



We have only i specimen from Clipperton Island. 



The Hawaiian specimens of O. camurum differ in shape from our 

 specimen of O. clippertonense only in having the sides concave instead 

 of slightly convex; the latter may be swollen. 



The pattern of the ground-color is exactly the same in all, the inter- 



U. S. Fish Comm. 1899 (1901), 397, fig. 9 (Honolulu). Type, No. 

 49697, U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll. Dr. O. P. Jenkins. 



