Jordan and Evermann Fishes of North America. 1711 



671. MELICHTHYS, Swainson. 



Helichthys, SWAINSON, Class. Anim., n, 325, 1839 (ringens, BLOCK; not of LINNAEUS). 

 Melanichthys, GiJNTHBB, Cat., vm, 227, 1870; corrected spelling. 



This genus differs from Balistes chiefly in the presence of a series of even, 

 white, incisor-like teeth, instead of the irregular incisors of Balistes. The 

 tail is unarmed or the scales slightly keeled ; a groove is present hefore the 

 eye below the nostrils, and the cheeks are wholly scaled. The vertical 

 fins are angulated, but not produced in filaments; ventral flap small, 

 immovable, and covered with rough scales. Tropical seas. ( juehag, black ; 

 fish.) 



a. Dorsal spines U, soft rays 34; anal rays 32. PICEUS, 2126. 



aa. Dorsal spines 2, soft rays 32; anal rays 29. BISPINOSUS, 2127. 



2126. MELICHTHYS PICEUS (Poey). 



(GALAFATE; BLACK OLDWIFE; CALAFATE.) 



Head 4 in length to end of middle of rays of caudal. D. Ill, 34; A. 32; 

 scales about 53 ; eye 4 in snout, as long as preocular furrow ; dorsal spines 

 3; caudal truncate with its points produced for a distance length of fin. 

 Blue black, a sky-blue band along bases of dorsal and anal; a white band 

 along; posterior edge of caudal parallel with the border. (Poey.) West 

 Indies and southward ; not very common ; very likely identical with the 

 East Indian species, which has been wrongly identified by authors as 

 Balistes bunira, ringens, or niger. If the species are identical the name 

 piceus should apparently be retained, as none of these earlier names was 

 intended for this fish, (piceus, pitch-black.) 



Batistes nigra, OSBECK, Iter Chiuensis, 295, 1757, Ascension Island; pre-Linna3an ; called 

 Balistes ringens alter LINNAEUS in later or post-Liumean editions. 



Qalc(fate, PARRA, Dif. Piezas, etc., 18, 1787, Havana. 



f Melichthys ringens, BLEEKER, Atlas. Ind. Ichth., V, 108, pi. 220, fig. 1, 1862, East Indies ; 

 not Balistes ringens LINN^US. 



Balistes piceus, POEY, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci.Phila. 1863, 180, Cuba. 



; Balistes buniva, GUNTHER, Cat., vm, 228, 1870; not of LACEPEDE. 



? Balistes niger, GUNTHEB, Fishes Zanzibar, 135, pi. 19, fig. 1, I860, not of Mungo Park nor 

 of Hollard. 



2127. MELICHTHYS BISPINOSUS, Gilbert. 



Head 3f ; depth 2. D. II, 32 ; A. 29 ; P. 15 ; scales 52. Lower jaw but little 

 protruding in open mouth; 8 teeth in each jaw, the 2 anterior of which 

 are broad truncate incisors without notch; 3 lateral teeth in lower jaw 

 conspicuously notched, the anterior angle projecting; in the upper jaw 

 the posterior tooth is truncate, entire, and the other 2 lateral teeth but 

 slightly notched; teeth in lower jaw each with a strong horizontal back- 

 ward process; eye 5 in snout; length of anteorbital groove f eye; width 

 of gill slit i snout ; distance from end of dorsal groove to soft dorsal 2 in 

 snout; first dorsal spine very heavy, its tip curved backward, its length 

 I head, the front and sides of spine rugose, but not spinous, the ru- 

 gosities coarser in front and above; second dorsal spine very slender, 



