856 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



aa. Teeth on both jaws; vomer and palatines toothless; the bone which forms a downward 

 hook over the maxillary moderately developed; interorbital space rather narrow; 

 opercle ending in a single spine. 



b. Teeth small, subequal, in villiform bands in both jaws. MULLOIDES, 386. 



bb. Teeth rather strong, unequal, in one or two series in each jaw. UPENEUS, 387. 



385. MULLUS, Linnaeus. 

 (SURMULLETS.) 



Mullus, LINNAEUS, Systema Naturae, Ed. x, 1758, 299, (barbatus). 



Yilliform teeth in the lower jaw and on the vomer and palatines ; none 

 in the upper jaw ; the bone forming a hook over the maxillary well devel- 

 oped; opercle without spines; interorbital space flat and wide. Other- 

 wise as in Upeneus, the head rather shorter. One species known. (Latin, 

 Mullus, UVAAOC, the ancient name of Mullus barbatus, from //M/lof, lip; 

 hence "mullet," a fish with thick lips.) 



1244. MULLUS AURATUS, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Head 3? ; depth 3f to 4 ; eye 3 ; oblique length of snout 2|. D. VII-I, 

 8; A. II, 6 ; scales about 40. Form essentially as in the European Mullus 

 barbatus, the profile a little less steep, the interorbital space a trifle 

 broader, the maxillary extending exactly to opposite front of eye, its 

 length 2f in head. Interorbital width 3i in head; barbels 1J. Teeth in 

 lower jaw small; on upper jaw obsolete; on vomer and palatines coarse 

 and granular, forming large patches. Gill rakers slender, a little shorter 

 than pupil. Dorsal spines slender, compressed, the longest about If in 

 head (1 to 1 in Mullus barbatus) ; height of soft dorsal half head ; cau- 

 dal as long as head. Pectoral 1J in head; ventrals 11. Scales mostly 

 lost, so that the number in the lateral line can not be counted. Color 

 scarlet, becoming crimson where the scales are removed; snout scarlet; 

 side with two distinct longitudinal yellow stripes. Caudal scarlet, first 

 dorsal with an orange band at base and a yellow band higher up ; the 

 rest of the fin pale ; no black on dorsal fin. Second dorsal mottled scarlet 

 and pale ; anal and ventrals plain, pectoral reddish ; iris violet, dusky 

 above; sides of head with silvery luster. Length 8 inches. Eastern 

 coast of North America ; Cape Cod to Pensacola, occasionally taken in 

 some numbers at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and found among the spew- 

 ings of snappers and groupers off the Florida Snapper Banks. Very close 

 to the European Mullus barbatus, and especially to surmuletus, differing in 

 the rather lower fins, the black band on the dorsal replaced by yellow. 

 (auratus, gilded.) 



Mullus barbatus auratus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, 280, Pensacola; (Type, 



No. 30828. Coll. Jordan); JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 931, 1883. 

 Mullus auratus, JORDAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 39; HALL & MCCAUGHAN, Proc. Ac. Nat. 



Sci. Phila., 1885, 161. 



