Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1681 



cies the young show pale cross bands, and of these the one behind the 

 shoulder persists longest. Length a foot or more. West Indies, south to 

 Bahia; not rare southward; not yet recorded from the coast of the United 

 States. (Par u- f a Brazilian name, used by Marcgrave.) 



Chcetodon paru, BLOCK, Ichthyol., pi. 197, fig. 1, 1787, Brazil ; on a drawing ; POEY, Synopsis, 

 351, 1868. 



Pomacanthus arcuatus* CUVIER <fc VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vn, 211, 1831; not 

 Chcetodon arcuatus, L. ; LUTKEN, Spolia Atlantica, 61, 1880 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Syn- 

 opsis, 616, 1883 ; ElGENMANN & HORNING, I. C., 9, 1887. 



PomaccDithiis i><im. ('TVIER <fc VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vn, 205, 1831 ; GUNTHER, 

 Cat., n, 55, 18GO, in part ; JORDAN &. HOTTER, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1897, 124. 



Subgenus POMACANTHODES, Gill. 

 2096. POMACANTHUS ZONIPECTUS (Gill). 



(MOJARRA DE LAS PlEDRAS.) 



Head 3| to 3f ; depth li in adult to 1 in young ; eye 3 in head. D. XI, 23 ; 

 A. Ill, 20 to 22 ; scales 70. Profile very steep, uneven ; preopercular spine 

 longer than eye, 3 in head; preorbital equal to maxillary, 1 i n head; 

 last dorsal spine 1| in head; longest dorsal ray longer than head, fal- 

 cate; anal rounded, its soft rays much lower than those of dorsal; caudal 

 short, truncate, 1^ in head ; pectoral moderate ; ventral very long, J longer 

 than head, the first ray filamentous. Scales irregular, large and small 

 ones intermixed, those of head, breast, and nape minute. Interopercle 

 with one stoutish spine; preopercle very finely serrate. A large hump 

 at nape in adult. Adult, dark gray, blackish posteriorly, most scales with 

 black centers ; edges of scales bright sky blue in life, especially posteriorly ; 

 a triangular bronze-yellow patch in front of line connecting pectorals with 

 ventrals, then a diffuse blackish bar from front of dorsal along region 

 behind pectorals to ventrals, then a broad curved bar of yellow, obscured 

 by blackish centers of scales, behind this a diffuse blackish area; breast 

 vermiculated with blue and yellowish; a blackish bar covering most of 

 head, behind which the opercles and nape are yellowish ; jaws pale bluish ; 

 dorsal orange, vermiculate with sky blue, the edge bright sky blue, below 

 which is orange ; caudal orange, vermiculated with sky blue, the edge 

 orange, the very margin blackish; anal blackish, vermiculated with sky 

 blue; pectorals light orange, marked with grayish blue; ventrals largely 

 blue black, tipped with orange ; spine bluish. Young, pure black on dorsal 

 and anal; top of head with a median line of bright yellow, dividing at 

 the snout and extending along each side of mouth and meeting on throat 

 below; side with 5 very distinct narrow bright-yellow cross bars, strongly 

 convex forward ; blue lines between these bars. Length 18 inches. West 

 coast of tropical America ; rather common about rocks from Mazatlan to 

 Panama; a beautiful fish, showing great changes in color in the course of 

 development, (^covrj, zone; pectus, breast.) 



* Most recent writers have called this species Pomacanthus arcuatus, hut the true arcu- 

 atus of LinniBus must he the preceding species. 



