SHORE FISHES OF GALAPAGOS ISLANDS 



355 



Body elliptical, compressed posteriorly, dorsal and ventral outlines 

 nearly equal ; head flattened above at interorbital region ; snout short 

 and blunt ; opercle with a small spine at angle ; suborbital, preopercle, 

 both limbs of opercle, interopercle, lower edge of subopercle, shoulder- 

 girdle and occiput with their edges serrate ; mouth oblique ; lower jaw 

 included ; maxillary extending to vertical from posterior border of eye, 

 posterior margin without serrations; supplemental maxillary mod- 

 erate ; teeth in villiform bands in both jaws, in a diamond-shaped 

 patch on the vomer and in club-shaped patches on the palatines ; gill- 

 rakers 10 -j- 2 j l n g> length slightly less than diameter of pupil; eye 

 large, diameter 2 in snout. 



Dorsal fin divided, first part of 10 spines, separated from the second 

 part by an interval equal to half interorbital width ; third to fifth spines 

 longest; first spine slender, equal to sixth; last spine united with soft 

 dorsal ; first soft rays longest, equaling longest spines ; anal spines 

 shorter than height of soft anal ; first spine short, the third and fourth 

 longest and of equal length, but the third much thickened ; soft anal 

 similar to soft dorsal and of same height; pectoral pointed, of 15 rays, 

 the upper ones longest, 1.5 in head; ventral pointed, 1.6 in head; 

 caudal rather deeply forked, the lobes equal and pointed, twice the 

 diameter of the eye. 



Scales sharply serrated, those on the lateral line with enlarged ser- 

 rations mesially. Cheek and opercle scaled, the former with 4 vertical 

 rows ; lateral line continuous, parallel with contour of back. 



Color in life. Cardinal on sides of body, becoming darker olive- 

 red on snout and before spinous dorsal ; belly and throat lighter and 

 more silvery-red ; sides with faint longitudinal dusky stripes produced 

 by the over-lapping of the scales ; fins red like the sides of the body, 

 and without dark bands or spots. 



MEASUREMENTS OF Myri-pristis accident alis. 



