Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1927 



2303. STERNIAS XENOSTETHUS (Gilbert). 



Head about 4^; depth 6; eye 3-J- in head; snout 3|. D. XI, 23; A. 23; 

 P. 16; V. I, 3; lateral line 43; branchiostegals 6. Body shaped as in Trig- 

 lopa pinycli, rather heavy at shoulders, tapering gradually backward ; cau- 

 dal peduncle slender, its least depth 4f in its length, which is length 

 of head; upper profile of head descending rapidly in a strong convex 

 curve, unbroken to tip of snout; mouth large, maxillary reaching vertical 

 from middle of pupil, 2| in head; interorbital space very narrow, -J- orbit, 

 the orbital rim not elevated, the space neither grooved nor ridged; a pair 

 of broadly rounded occipital ridges, not ending in spines; nasal spines 

 short and inconspicuous, a broadly noticeable depression behind them ; pre- 

 operclc with 4 ill-defined projections, 1 between each mucous pore, but 

 without definite spines ; gill membranes as usual; pectoral rays apparently 

 all simple, the lower ones thickened; prickles covering dorsal region and 

 back and sides of head, unusually coarse and few in number; the usual 

 series of enlarged prickles along either side of base of dorsals; folds below 

 lateral line numerous, very oblique, 2 or 3 to each plate of the lateral line; 

 on sides of abdomen anteriorly to vent, the prickly scales bordering the 

 folds form a dense mass in which the linear arrangement is still faintly 

 visible ; breast covered with a very dense patch of similar scales, still more 

 closely crowded; lower part of cheeks, opercles, and preorbital region 

 naked. Very light grayish above, with the usual 4 cross bars, those under 

 soft dorsal and on back of tail broader than usual; under parts whitish, 

 becoming bright silvery on breast and belly ; a series of irregular silvery 

 white blotches along lower margins of the dorsal cross bars; pectorals 

 dusky at base of upper and lower rays, with 2 convex dusky bars on 

 distal half; snout and cheeks more or less dusky. This species differs 

 widely from species of Triglops in the investment of the breast, which is 

 without truce of folds and is covered by small, closely imbricated spinous 

 scales, not arranged in series. In all other species of Triglops the breast 

 is crossed by a few cutaneous folds similar to those on sides of body. In 

 S. xcnostethus the sides of the abdomen are covered similarly to the breast, 

 but the scales are arranged in more or less evident series, some of which 

 can be traced above into the cutaneous folds. The body is not slender, 

 the lateral folds are not very numerous, and the scales on head and on upper 

 part of body are very coarse. Length 1| inches. Bering Sea; only the 

 type known. (Gilbert.) (^evos, strange; tfn/Oos, breast.) 



Triglops xenostethus, GILBERT, Kept. U. S. Fish Comni. 1893 (1896), 429, pi. 29, fig. 2, north of 

 Unalaska, at Albatross Station 3220,111 34 fathoms. (Type iu U. S. Nat. Mus.) 



722. PRIONISTIUS, Bean. 



Prionittius, BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 355 (macellus). 



This genus is allied to Trlylopv, differing in the following respects: The 

 much slenderer form, the absence of a series of bony tubercles along the 

 bases of the dorsal fins, the elongation of the exserted pectoral rays so 

 that the lower portion of the fin is considerably longer than the upper, 



