Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1987 



732. MEGALOCOTTUS, Gill. 



Megalocottus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1861, 166 (platycephalus) . 



This genus includes large sculpins, with broad flat heads, differing from 

 Myoxocephalus chiefly in the sharply projecting lower jaw; the preopercle 

 has 3 spines, the upper short and straight, the lowermost turned down 

 ward; dentation as in Myoxocephalus; suprascapnla with 2 spinous projec- 

 tions; top of head warty; sides with rounded tubercles in the adult; lat- 

 crnl line of separated pores; a large pore behind last gill. North Pacific. 

 ^, great; HOTTO^ coitus.) 



a. Interorbitul space moderate, about equal to eye in adult; ventrals reaching anal 

 papilla. PLATYCEPHALUS, 2359. 



aa. Interorbital space very broad, If diameter of eye in adult; ventrals not reaching 

 vent. LATICEPS, 2360. 



2359. MEGALOCOTTUS PLATYCEPHALUS (Pallas). 



Head 3. D. VIII, 13; A, 12; V. I, 3; P. 16 or 17; lateral line 40. Lower 

 jaw somewhat longer than upper; eye 5 in head, as long as snout; nasal 

 spines distinct; orbital rim moderately prominent; a low ridge behind it 

 toward the occiput, without spines or points. Top of head between these 

 ridges forming a quadrangular depression, as broad as the eye in front,. 

 but narrower behind. Top of head covered with naked, warty skin. 

 Preopercle with 4 spines, the upper as long as eye, directed upward and 

 backward, the second much shorter, the others directed downward. Oper- 

 cle with a long forked ridge, ending in 2 short diverging spines ; a spine 

 directed downward on subopercle; two sharp spines on scapular region, 

 the lower the longer and touching the first tube of the lateral line. Lat- 

 eral line complete, above, it numerous rounded bony plates armed with 

 spinules as in M. laticeps; these in 2 rows anteriorly and 1 posteriorly ; a few 

 similar plates below lateral line. Fins all high, the soft dorsal especially 

 so. Color dark, with many dark shades and spots on throat and belly, 

 especially on gill membranes ; sides and belly (in males) with irregular, 

 round white spots; first dorsal with round pale spots, the membranes 

 otherwise largely dusky ; soft dorsal with 3 or 4 dark oblique cross shades, 

 between which are rows of pale spots; anal with 4 dark oblique cross 

 shades; caudal with 3 narrower dark stripes; pectoral with 4; ventrals 

 dusky with pale spots. Okhotsk Sea and western part of Bering Sea. 

 This description (after Kner) from a single specimen, 7| inches long, from 

 Decastris Bay, near the mouth of the Amur. The species -is close to M. 

 laticeps, which has been recorded from Alaska as Cottus twniopterus, but the 

 2 species are different, and the type of M. platycephalus has the narrower 

 interorbital space of M. tcvniopterm. So far as known M. laticeps is found 

 on the eastern shores of Bering Sea, and M. platycephalus on the western. 

 Dr. Hilgendorf has, at our request, reexamined Pallas's type of platy- 

 cephalus, a specimen a foot long. He notes: Lower jaw projecting; fin 

 rays not easily counted, the skin being dried and varnished. D. VIII-14 ; 

 A. 11. A sketch of the head shows the armature of M. laticeps, but the 

 eyes closer together, 1 diameter apart. There is a blunt tubercle behind 



