384 FISHES. 



Southern China and Japan. It is of small size, and orna- 

 mented with two broad black cross-bands. 



Mbsopeion. — Body oblong, compressed, covered with scales of 

 moderate size. Teeth 

 villiform, with canines in 

 both jaws ; teeth on the 

 vomer and palatine bones. 

 One dorsal fin, with ten 

 or eleven, rarely with 

 more spines ; anal fin with 



three. Praeoperculum ser- " j 



rated ; in some species Fig. 154. — Opercles a, of Mesoprion ; b, of 

 (Genyoroge) a more or less Genyoroge; o, knob received in a notcli of 

 , . , . , . 1 , the praeoperculum. 



distmct spmous knob pro- 

 jects from the surface of the interoperculum, and is received in 

 a more or less deep notch of the prseopercular margin. 



About seventy species are known from tropical seas in 

 both hemispheres, but it is noteworthy that the species with 

 the peculiar protuberance of the interoperculum are confined 

 to the Indo-Pacific. The coloration is much more simple 

 than in the small-scaled Serrani, a uniform hue of greenish, 

 pink, or red prevailing ; species with longitudinal bands are 

 scarce, but not rarely dark cross-bands or a large spot on the 

 side occur. The majority of the species remain within very 

 moderate dimensions, specimens exceeding three feet in 

 length being scarce. They are generally eaten, and some of 

 the species belong to the commonest fishes of the tropics, as 

 M. bengalensis, chrysurus, gerribra, griseus, and others. 



Glaucosoma from Japan and Australia is allied to Meso- 

 prion. 



DuLES. — Body oblong, compressed, with scales of moderate 

 size, and very indistinctly ctenoid. All the teeth are villiform ; 

 teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. One dorsal with ten 

 spines ; anal fin with three. Praeoperculum serrated. Six 

 branchiostegals only. 



