Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1167 



LIOPEBCA (Aefos, smooth ; TrepKif, perch): 



a. Preopercle evidently serrate, the seme rather coarse and blunt ; upper jaw with very 

 small canines ; pectoral fins long, more than two-thirds length of head, reaching vent ; 

 anal spines rather strong ; dusky olive, with large rounded whitish spots ; no black 

 spots on head ; a whitish streak from snout through eye toward front of dorsal. 



INEBMIS, 1560. 

 DEBMATOLEPIS: 



aa. Preopercle subentirc ; canine teeth obsolete ; pectoral fins short, not two-thirds length of 

 head and not reaching vent ; anal spines short ; dusky olive, with round whitish spots ; 

 head with smaller black spots. PUNCTATUS, 1561. 



Subgenus LIOPERCA, Gill. 

 1560. DERMATOLEPIS INERMIS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Head 2f ; depth 2|. D. XI, 19; A. Ill, 9; scales 20-115 to 125-45 to 50, 

 70 pores. Body comparatively short and deep, strongly compressed, the 

 back elevated, the anterior profile concave, forming a reentrant angle 

 before the eye, thence nearly straight to the nape. Head compressed, 

 the snout short, moderately pointed, 3| in head. Eye small, 51 in head. 

 Interorbital space narrow, anteriorly with a broad groove, which receives 

 the spines of the premaxillary bones, its width 8 in head. Posterior part 

 of head narrow, strongly convex transversely. Mouth small, oblique, 

 the jaws subequal, the broad maxillary extending to below the middle of 

 the eye, its length 2i in head. Supplemental maxillary well developed. 

 Teeth iii narrow bands, formed as in Epinephelus, but small. Canines 

 scarcely differentiated, none in lower jaw, 1 on each side in upper jaw 

 slightly larger than the other teeth. Preopercle with very weak and 

 irregular serrations, the angle not salient, its teeth little, if any, 

 enlarged. A very slight emargination above the angle. Opercle with a 

 single spine, above which is a flat lobe. Opercular flap unusually large, 

 extending beyond the spine for a distance nearly equal to the diameter 

 of the eye. Gill rakers rather slender, nearly as long as gill fringes, 

 about 14 on lower part of anterior arch. Nostrils round, very close 

 together, the posterior the larger. Scales small, all cycloid, somewhat 

 embedded in the skin; lower jaw scaly ; maxillary, preorbital, and tip of 

 snout naked. Dorsal spines strong, the third highest, 2| in head, the 

 others gradually shorter to the ninth, which is 3| in head ; soft dorsal 

 elevated, the twelfth ray highest, 2 in head; caudal long, rounded in 

 outline, li in head ; anal very high, the middle soft rays If in head, the 

 other rays rapidly shortened each way ; anal spines short and strong, 

 graduated, the second spine 3| in head; pectorals very long, nearly 

 reaching anal, 1 in head; ventrals moderate, 1^ in head, reaching vent 

 or a little farther. Color in alcohol, dusky brown, mottled with darker; 

 head, body, and fins covered with roundish, whitish blotches, which are 

 very irregular in form and size, some of them larger than the eye ; the 

 spots most numerous and distinct on the tail and on the lower part of 

 the head ; several spots behind the eye, confluent into a pale stripe from 

 eye toward spinous dorsal ; fins all blackish, the pale spots smaller and 

 generally less distinct than on body ; pectorals olivaceous, with small, 

 rather distinct black spofcs. West Indies ; rare ; here described from an 



