634 NEW YORK STATE MUSBUM 



fan-shaped, with rays arranged in three groups, the first of two 

 simple rays, the second of eight or nine branched rays, the third 

 of eight simple rays, sometimes prolonged, with their tips 

 tendrillike and free from membrane for one half their length 

 or less; soft dorsal with tips free from membrane; suborbital 

 keel smooth, or with a single anterior spine under eye; preorbital 

 with spines small and hidden beneath the skin. Vertebrae 

 10+14=24; no air bladder. Atlantic. 



308 Helicolenus dactylopterus (De la Roche) 

 Redfish; Seran Imperial 



Scorpaena dactyloptera De la Roche, Ann. Mus. Paris, XII, 316, 337, ^1. 



XXII, fig. 9, 1809, Iviga, Barcelona; Joedan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. 



Nat. Mus. 679, 1883. 

 Sebastes dactylopterus Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 99, 1860. 

 Sebastoplus dactylopterus Goode & Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. X, no. 5, 



214, 1883. 

 Helicolenus dactylopterus Goode & Bean, Oceanic Ichth. 249, pi. LXVIII, 



fig. 244, 1896; Jordan & Evermann, BuU. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1837, 



1898. 



De la Roche states that at Iviga this form is found only at 

 considerable depths, outside of the regions commonly frequented 

 by the fishermen; indeed, that it is very rare, or scarcely at all 

 known, in the markets of the towns where the fishermen are not 

 in the habit of going far out to sea. He saw many individuals 

 taken off Iviga at a depth of 260 to 290 meters, and in the vicinity 

 of Barcelona saw the same species from a depth of 540 meters. 

 At Iviga the species is known as the Seran imperial, and at 

 Barcelona as the Fanegal. 



Risso saw specimens at Nice in which locality of the Mediter- 

 ranean it is very common and is known as the Cardonniera. He 

 says it grows to a length of 30 centimeters (about 1 foot) and a 

 weight of 2 kilograms (4f pounds). It is obtained on rocky bot- 

 toms at considerable depths throughout the year, and he has 

 observed females full of eggs in summer. The species is recorded 

 also from Naples, Genoa, Messina and Catania. 



Capello states that the fish is found off Lisbon, but it is very 

 rare and occurs only in summer. Off the coast of France, it has 



