Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1281 



rather slender, the third slightly longer than second, 3 in head; ventrals 

 1| in head; pectorals long and pointed, reaching to first soft ray of anal, 

 1-iV in head. Color in life, rosy red with silvery luster, quite silvery below ; 

 faint pearly markings on scales of upper parts, these forming a decided 

 stripe along base of dorsal; head all rosy, darker above; iris silvery; 

 mouth white within; sides with pearly spots, faint and diffuse, irregu- 

 larly scattered, each about as large as a scale ; base of dorsal yellowish- 

 olive, its edge scarlet, the fin otherwise rosy; caudal rosy, becoming 

 scarlet behind ; pectorals, ventrals, and anal slightly rosy. In spirits the 

 bright colors all fade, leaving irregular pearly markings on a silvery 

 ground. West Indies, generally common; the specimens here described 

 from Havana, \vhere it is rather common in the markets. (juaxpoS, large; 

 eye.) 



* Centropristis macrophthalmus, HULLER & TROSCHEL in SCHOMBURGK, Hist. Barbados, 



666, 1848, Barbados ; young. 



Mesoprion vorax, POEY, Meraorias, II, 151, I860, Cuba. 

 Platyinius vorax, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 1863, 237. 

 Elastoma macrophthalmus, COPE, Trans. Am. Philos. Soc. 1869, 468. 

 Aprion macrophthalmus, JORDAN & SWAIN, Z. c., 467; JORDAN & FESLER, I. c., 456. 



531. ETELIS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



Etelis, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., n, 127, 1828 (carbunculus, a Japanese 



species). 



Elastoma, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Fishes, n, 168, 202, 1839 (oculatui). 

 11,'xin'ranthias, LOWE, Fishes of Madeira, 14, 1843 (oculatus). 

 Macrops, DUMERIL, Ichth. Analytique, 279, 1856 (oculatug). 



Body elongate, covered with large scales; eye very large; preorbital 

 very narrow ; mouth moderate, the lower jaw projecting ; canines in upper 

 jaw only; no teeth on tongue or pterygoids; gill rakers long and slender. 

 Dorsal fin deeply notched, rather short, its spines 10 in number, its soft 

 rays not scaly ; caudal very deeply forked ; head naked above, skull with 

 the interorbital area flat, separated from the occipital area by a transverse 

 line, limiting the median and lateral crests, also; frontals wide in front, 

 not cavernous, si mply normally perforate; supraorbital margins crenate; 

 periotic region little convex and with the bones thick, unpolished; pre- 

 frontals behind, with funnel-shaped foramina. The relationships of this 

 genus have been repeatedly misunderstood, but, as Gill has shown, it 

 belongs in the Lutianidce and has no special affinity with Anthias, Perca, 

 or Serranus t The synonymy and relations of this interesting genus have 

 been well discussed by Dr. Gill in the paper above cited. In spite of 

 the difference in the form of its dorsal, the relations of Etelis with Aprion 



* According to Poey the Centropristis macrophthaltnus of Miiller & Troschel was based 

 on the young of this species ; if so, the latter name has the right of priority. This species 

 agrees closely with the descriptions of Aprion filamentosus (Cuvier & Valenciennes) from 

 the islands east of Africa, but it would be premature to unite 2 species from such 

 widely separated localities without an actual comparison of specimens. Dr. Klunzinger 

 regards the 2 species as identical. According to his account, however, A.filamentosus 

 is a slenderer fish, the depth 4 in the total length (3| in A. macrophthalmus), and the scales 

 are 7-55-14, the caudal more deeply forked, the lobes 3 times the middle rays (2 times in 

 ours). 



t See Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 447, for a discussion of the affinities of Etelis. 



