Jordan and Evermann Fishes of North America. 1763 



2176. SEBASTOLOBFS ALTIVEL1S, Gilbert. 



Body slender, depth 3f iu length; head 2|; lateral line 33 to 35 pores. 

 D. XV, 9; A. Ill, 5; pectoral 22. Mouth large, 2 in head, maxillary reach- 

 ing posterior margin of pupil; mandible laterally and in front shut- 

 ting within the wide premaxillary band of teeth, its tip fitting into an 

 omargination between premaxillaries, and bearing a short symphyseal 

 knob. Bands of teeth 011 mandible, vomer, and palatines narrow. Eye 

 very large, 3 in head, 3 times interorbital width. Interorbital narrow, 

 scaled, concave, with 2 low, rounded ridges. Cranial ridges strong, ter- 

 minating in sharp spines, agreeing with those in S. alascanus and S. macro- 

 chir.* Preorbital wide, partially overlapping middle third of maxillary, 

 posteriorly with a forwardly directed triangular spine, in front of which 

 is a long slit-like mucous pore. A blunt tubercle directed forward from 

 front of each premaxillary, less prominent than in S. alascanus. Dorsal 

 spines long and comparatively strong, the third always the highest, 

 the outline of fin behind it straight or concave, never convexly rounded, 

 as in S. macrochir and S. alascanus. In the type specimen the longest 

 spine is contained If times in length of head. The spine before 

 the last is scarcely longer than the one preceding, the last spine again 

 lengthened. Second anal spine usually curved, much longer and stronger 

 than third and longer than soft rays, its length If to 2 in head. In the 

 type it is abnormally curved. Ventrals reaching to vent ; pectorals to front 

 of anal; pectoral fin very broad, the lower 7 rays thickened and extended 

 beyond membranes, the lobe thus formed subject to much variation, being 

 unusually short in the type. Scales rough ctenoid. Mandible scaled at 

 base only, the head otherwise completely invested, including the branchi- 

 ostegal rays and membranes. Fin membranes covered with fine ctenoid 

 scales. Color red ; a dark blotch on membranes between first and third 



from the first to the fourth, then as regularly diminishing to the fourteenth ; the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth again lengthened. The longest spiuo is contained from 2 to 2f times in 

 the length of the head. Second anal spine longer and stronger than third, equaling or 

 exceeding length of soft rays, its length 2 to 2 in that of head. Yentrals usually scarcely 

 reaching vent, the pectorals not reaching front of anal. Lower pectoral lobe unusually 

 broad, contains 7 to 9 thickened rays. Head less completely scaled than in S. altivelis, the 

 brauchiostegals, mandible, maxillary, and lower portion of preopercle wholly naked. 

 Color red; a black blotch occupies the membranes of the first three dorsal spines, a sec- 

 ond extends from the sixth to the eleventh spines; margin of pectoral and ventral fins 

 black; no black blotch behind second anal spine; peritoneum and lining of gill cavity 

 white. This species differs from 8. altivelis in the lower, longer, evenly rounded spinous 

 dorsal, the white lining of the gill cavity, and the partly naked head. It was taken 

 abundantly on the Alaskan expedition, being represented from the following stations: 

 3227, 3324, 3330, 3331, 3332, 3337, 3338, 3339, 3340, 3343, 3346, 3347, and 3348. These are located 

 in Bering Sea, north of Unalaska Island ; in the North Pacific southeast of Unimak 

 Island, and off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California, in depths of from 109 

 to 786 fathoms. " 



* The following is a description of the type of the genus Sebastololusfrom Japan: 

 Sebantolobus macrochir (Giinther) : Head 2J; depth 3. D. XV, 6 ; A. Ill, 5; P. 22 (V). 

 Lat. line, about 45. Scales rather regular. Eye very large, much longer than snout, 3 in 

 head. Mouth wide, maxillary reaching beyond middle of eye. Teeth on mandibles, 

 vomer, and palatines in very narrow bauds, those on premaxillarieo in somewhat broader 

 bauds. Interorbital space tiattish, narrow, scaleless, about 2 in orbit. Occipital region 

 flat, with some rudimentary scales. Preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, pari- 

 etal, and nuchal spines preseut. Interorbital stay with strong spines. Preopercle with 

 5 pointed spines. Each ramus of mandible with 3 large pores. Dorsal spines rather fee- 

 ble, third to sixth longest, 2J in head. Anal spines stronger, but shorter than longest 

 dorsal spines. Caudal truncate. Pectoral extremely broad, 5 or 6 lower rays elongated 

 beyond those above them, their extremities somewhat thickened, and used like the simi- 

 lar outer ventral rays, as an organ of locomotion. Pectorals reaching vent, ventrals 

 beyond vent. Red, a large black spot on posterior half of spinous dorsal, another between 

 anal spines. Length 11 inches. Inland sea of Japan', off Inosima, 345 fathoms. (Gunther.) 



