FISHES OF PUGET SOUND. 809 



orbit 4 in head ; snout 4 ; maxillary 2| ; highest dorsal 

 spine 25^ ; dorsal ray i^; anal ray i^ ; length of cau- 

 dal fin i| ; ventrals i|; pectorals 2^^ in body. 



Body elongate, compressed, back slightly elevated, 

 deepest under spinous dorsal; caudal peduncle moder- 

 ately slender. Skin perfectly smooth. 



Head small, tapering rapidly forward to the rather 

 sharp snout as viewed from above; profile of head, 

 straight below, acutely and evenly rounded above; mouth 

 terminal, horizontal; maxillary reaching to the verti- 

 cal from the middle of pupil; lower jaw included; teeth 

 on jaws, vomer and palatines, in narrow villiform bands; 

 process of premaxillary prominent, extending slightly above 

 nasal spines, giving the appearance of three spines above 

 snout; eye set high in head, the orbit as long as snout; 

 preopercular spine short, blunt and triangular, entirely 

 covered with the skin; edge of preopercle below, entire; 

 opercle ending in a short flap; top of head with two rows 

 of "mossy" cirri, running from the superior orbital mar- 

 gin, curving over head and continuing on lateral line; 

 they disappear on its anterior third. 



Dorsal spines rather stout, the fin lower than soft dorsal, 

 rounded in outline ; soft dorsal well separated from spinous, 

 the front of fin the highest; pectorals long, the eighth ray 

 the longest, rendering the fin pointed behind; it reaches to 

 the base of about the seventh dorsal ray. The pectoral rays 

 below the eighth are swollen, and posteriorly free from 

 the membrane ; anal about as high as soft dorsal, the rays 

 somewhat swollen and more or less free; ventrals long, 

 reaching about to front of anal, their insertion behind 

 base of pectoral, a distance equal to the snout and eye; 

 caudal fin slightly rounded. 



Color varying from light green to a rich maroon; traces 

 of 5 or 6 dark cross-bars on back, lower parts dusky with 

 small light spots; belly white; a dark bar from eye to 



