1806 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



adult; faint dusky shades radiating from eye; fins red, soft fins always 

 largely blackish at tip, especially in young ; young more distinctly marked 

 than adults, which are nearly plain brick red; peritoneum white. Length 

 30 inches. Pacific coast of the United States, from San Diego to Puget 

 Sound; abundant; reaches a larger size than any of the other species, 

 except possibly Sebastodes paucispinis ; an important food-fish, varying 

 much with age. (niberrimus, very red.) 



Sebastodes ruler, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 665, 1883 (not of AYRES), and of late 



authors generally. 

 Sebastodes ruberrimus, CRAMER, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., series 2, v, 1895, 597, pis. 62, 63, and 69, 



Monterey Bay, California. (Coll. Cramer.) 



2208. SEBASTODES CONSTELLATUS (Jordan & Gilbert). 



(SPOTTED KOCKFISH.) 



Head 2 ; depth 2|. D. XIII, 13 ; A. Ill, 6 ; lateral line 53. Body robust, 

 heavy forward, tapering into a slender caudal peduncle; head rather* 

 pointed in profile; mouth large, oblique, lower jaw slightly projecting 

 beyond emarginated tip of upper jaw, a small knob at the symphysis; 

 maxillary very broad, extending beyond pupil, its middle part with many 

 small scales, its length 2 in head; premaxillary in front just below the level 

 of the eye ; mandible almost entirely covered with small rough scales ; 

 muzzle and preorbital scaled to tip of snout; head densely covered with 

 small scales. Preopercle with its second spine long and sharp ; preorbital 

 wide, its edge lobed. Eye large, 4 in head. Gill rakers short, clavate, 

 the longest of them about j the diameter of eye. Scales strongly ctenoid, 

 the accessory scales largely developed Dorsal spines rather strong and 

 low, the fourth more than -J- the length of head, the fin rather deeply 

 emarginate; soft dorsal rather low, about as high as second anal spine, 2f 

 in head, robust, curved, considerably longer than the third or soft rays ; 

 caudal slightly emarginate; pectorals rather narrow, reaching beyond 

 ventrals, about to vent, their length f that of head. Skull long, the bones 

 moderately thick, the preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, and 

 parietal spines present, broad at base, moderately thick and sharp, the 

 ridges strong, high, the parietal ridges curved, with a slight tendency to 

 become serrate and develop small spines; parietal bones widely separated, 

 interorbital space narrow, 6 in base of skull, deeply concave, the supra- 

 ocular ridges very high, and a deep depression between the ridges over 

 mucous canals; ventral process of basisphenoid strongly developed, mes- 

 ethmoid processes compressed, thick, elevated; base of skull straight. 

 Orange red; back olive shaded; belly yellowish; cheeks with red and 

 yellowish shades; head and body everywhere closely covered with small 

 roundish pale spots; spots above light-rose color; below larger and nearly 

 white; 4 or 5 roundish rose-colored blotches on back, besides some mot- 

 tlings of similar shade; the first spot, often obscure, under the fourth 

 dorsal spine, the next near the lateral line under the eighth dorsal spine, 

 the third close to junction of the two parts of dorsal; the fourth under 

 end of soft dorsal; a fifth sometimes near base of eighth dorsal spine; 



