Jordan and Ever mann. Fishes of North America. 2685 



caudal spotted and mottled with dark brown, and with 2 round, brown 

 spots, 1 above the other at the base of the fin. (Dresel.) South Atlantic 

 and Gulf coasts of the United States; rather common; a well-marked 

 species. We have examined several specimens dredged in the harbor of 

 Beaufort, N. C., by Prof. Oliver P. Jenkins, (jtiaxpos, large; cioip, eye.) 

 Citharichthys macrops, DRESEL, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1884, 539, Pensacola (Type No. 



21500); JORDAN, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1886,29; JORDAN & Goss, Review Flounders 



and Soles, 275, 1889. 



3058. CITHARICHTHYS SPILOPTERUS, Giinther. 



Head 3 in body ; depth 2. D. 75 to 80 ; A. 58 to 61 ; scales 45 to 48 ; eye 

 6 in head; maxillary 2|; pectoral 2; highest dorsal and anal rays 2; 

 caudal 1^. Body moderately elongate, much compressed; snout short, 

 forming an angle with the profile; jaws strongly curved, the upper some- 

 what hooked over the lower; lower jaw slightly included; maxillary 

 reaching to posterior margin of lower orbit; teeth small, in a single row, 

 the anterior a little enlarged ; interorbital area a low, narrow ridge, which 

 is divided only anteriorly; gill rakers short and rather slender, about 3 in 

 eye, 4 -|- 12 in number ; scales cycloid. Origin of dorsal above anterior 

 edge of upper eye, very slightly on blind side, its highest rays in its pos- 

 terior half; origin of anal slightly behind base of pectoral; pectoral of 

 eyed side very slightly shorter than that of eyed side; vertebrae 34. Color 

 olive brownish, somewhat translucent, with darker dots and blotches; a 

 series of distant obscure blotches along bases of dorsal and anal. Atlantic 

 coast of tropical America north to New Jersey ; very common on sandy 

 shores; not found in the Pacific, all west coast references belonging to 

 C. gilbcrti. Here described from a specimen from Havana, 6 inches in 

 length. This little flounder is almost everywhere abundant on the sandy 

 shores of the warmer parts of the Western Atlantic, in shallow water. 

 Careful comparison of specimens from South Carolina, Cuba, and Brazil 

 shows no tangible difference, and we are compelled to regard all as form- 

 ing a single species. It rarely exceeds 5 or 6 inches in length. It usually 

 comes into the markets mixed with other shore fishes, and it nowhere 

 receives any notice as a food-fish. This species is common in the markets 

 of Havana, and it is evidently the original of Poey's Hemirhomlus fuscus, 

 although in Poey's description there seems to be some confusion, because 

 the teeth are said to be biserial above, and 60 scales are counted in the 

 lateral line. A specimen from Poey in the museum at Cambridge is labeled 

 " Hemirliombus fuscns, type. Collector's number, 87." This belongs to 

 C. spilopterus, and it has 48 scales in the lateral line. Bleeker's C. gua- 

 temalensis agrees in all respects with C. spilopterus. We are unable to find 

 any description of C. cayennensis, if, indeed, the species has ever been de- 

 scribed. Specimens of C. spilopterus are in the museum at Cambridge 

 from Cuba, Para, Sambaia, Pernambuco, Camaru, Rio das Velhas, Rio 

 Janeiro, and San Matheo. (tf7r?A.<>, spot; rtrepoy, fin.) 



Citharichthys spilopterus, GUNTHER, Cat., IV, 421, 1862, New Orleans, San Domingo, 

 Jamaica; JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 618; JORDAN & GIL- 

 BERT, Synopsis, 817, 1883; JORDAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1886, 53; JORDAN & Goss, 

 Review Flounders and Soles, 276, 1889. 



