718 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Paralichthys ophryas Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat Mus. 822, 1883. 



ParalicJitJiys dentatus Goode, Fish & Fish. Ind. U. S. I, 178, 1884 (part); 

 .Jordan, Cat. Fish. N. A. 134, 1885; Bean, 19th Rep. Oomm. Fish. N. 

 Y. 246, pi. II, fig. 2, 1890; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 872, 189T; 

 H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 108, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, 

 Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 2629, 1898; IV, pi. COOLXXIII, fig. 922, 

 1900; Bean, 52d Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 110, 1900. 



The depth of the body is contained two and one third times 

 in its length, which is three and two thirds times the length of 

 the head. Body oblong, moderately compressed; mouth wide, 

 oblique, the mandible very heavy and much projecting; eight to 

 10 teeth on side of lower jaw, the two anterior teeth very long; 

 anterior teeth of upper jaw strong, but smaller than those in 

 the lower jaw; the lateral teeth very small and close set; eyes 

 small, shorter than snout, about one sixth length of head, and 

 in adult as wide as the broad, flattish, scaly interorbital area. 

 The latter is much narrower in the young. Scales small, cycloid; 

 accessory scales few; gill rakers lanceolate, dentate, stoutish, 

 wide set, much shorter than eye, the longest two and one half 

 times as long as broad at base, five and one half in the maxil- 

 lary, about 2+10 in number; pectoral fin about as long as maxil- 

 Isivj, which extends beyond the eye, and is rather more than 

 half length of head; dorsal low, its anterior rays somewhat 

 exserted, but short; caudal double concave, the middle rays pro- 

 duced; anal spine obsolete; ventrals small; fins all scaly. D. 

 88 (85 to 93); A. 66 (65 to 73); Lat. 1. about 100. 



Blackish olive, mottled and blotched with darker; in life light 

 brown; adults with numerous small white spots on body and 

 vertical fins; sometimes a series of larger white spots along 

 bases of dorsal and anal; about 14 ocellated dark spots on sides, 

 these sometimes inconspicuous, but always present; a series of 

 four or five along dorsal base, and three or four along anal 

 base, those of the two series opposite, and forming pairs; two 

 pairs of smaller, less distinct spots midway between these basal 

 series and lateral line anteriorly, with a small one on lateral line 

 in the center between them; a large distinct spot on lateral line 

 behind middle of straight portion; fins without the round dark 

 blotches. 



