1138 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



strongly ctenoid, the surface rugose, with radiating striae ; mouth large, 

 lower jaw prominent ; maxillary with a well-developed supplemental 

 bone extending to below the eye ; preorbital wide ; teeth all villiform. in 

 broad bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines ; dorsal spines stout, the last 

 spines very much shorter than the middle ones, and all depressible in a 

 deep groove; anal fin similar to soft dorsal, with 3 low, stout spines; 

 caudal fin broad, nearly truncate; pectorals moderate; ventrals long, 

 reaching vent. Color brownish, with large black blotches, becoming with 

 age nearly uniform greenish black ; vertical fins in the young with a con- 

 spicuous pale edge ; ventrals black. Coast of California from Coronados 

 Island (San Diego) north to the Farallones. A huge fish, rather common 

 about rocks, reaching a weight of 400 to 500 pounds and a length of 5 to 

 1 feet. (ytyf, gigas, giant.) 



Btereolepi* gigas, AYRES, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., 1869, 28, Southern California; JORDAN & GILBERT, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 27, 1880; JOBDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 531 ; JORDAN & EIGENMAXX, 

 I. c., 344, 1890. 



Stereolepis californicus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 330, 1863, California; substitute for gigas, 

 supposed to be preoccupied, but the Centroprittig giga* of OWEN is Polypi-ion ozygeneios. 



ff MegapercaiscJtinagi* HILOENDOBF, Sitzgb. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berlin, 1878, 156, Yeddo and Yoko- 

 hama. 



496. POLYPRION, Cuvier. 

 (WRECKFISHES.) 



Polyprion (CcviER) VALENCIENNES, Memoires du Museum, xi, 265, 1824, (cenuum). 

 Hectoria, CASTELNAU, Proc. Zoiil. Soc. Viet., n, 1873, 1851, (gigas = oxygeneios). 



Body robust, moderately elevated, not much compressed, covered with 

 small, firm, ctenoid scales which extend on the bases of the vertical fins. 

 Lateral line complete, partly concealed under adjacent scales, the tubes 

 covering the whole length of the scale. Mouth large, the lower jaw pro- 

 jecting ; maxillary with supplemental bone. Teeth in broad, villiform 

 bands on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue ; no canine teeth. Head 

 scaly. Preopercle serrate ; orbital region with spinous projections ; opercle 

 with a strong spine and with a strong, rough, bony longitudinal ridge. 

 Gill membranes separate; gill rakers long, few. Dorsal fin continuous, 

 low, with 11 strong spines and 11 or 12 rays, the spinous portion longest ; 

 caudal rounded ; anal short, with 3 spines, the third the longest ; ventrals 

 large, inserted below, little behind pectoral ; caudal rounded or truncate; 

 pectorals short, unsymmetrical, of 18 or 19 rays, the upper longest. Spines 

 of anal and ventrals somewhat serrate on the anterior edge. Vertebrae 

 13 -f- 14 = 27. Pyloric cceca about 70. Branchiostegals 7. Posterior pro- 

 cesses of premaxillaries not reaching frontals ; parietal and supraocular 

 crests not extending between postfrontal processes ; supraoccipital crest 

 strong, but not produced forward on cranium. Species inhabiting deep 

 waters in the warm seas, reaching a very great size. The one is confined 

 to the coasts of Southern Europe and neighboring waters ; the other 



* Dr. Boulenger is probably in error m placing this Japanese species in the synonymy ol 

 Stereolepis gigas. 



