SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 171 



147. SIPHOSTOMA LOUISIANA (GUntlier.) 

 Pipe-fish.. 



Syngnathua louiaiana Gunther, Catalogue of the Fishes of the British Museum, viii, 160, 1870; New Orleans. 

 Siphoatoma louiaiana, Jordan, 1886, 30; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 770; North Carolina to Texas. 



Diagnosis. — Trunk broader on ventral surface, which is flat or slightly concave and has a 

 median keel; bony rings 20 or 21 on body, 36 to 38 on tail; head contained 7 to 7.6 times in 

 total length; snout contained 1.6 times in length of head; tail longer than trunk and .56 total 

 length; dorsal fin shorter than head, its rays 32 to 37, covering 3 body rings and 5 caudal rings; 

 caudal fin longer than pectoral and .4 length of dorsal base. Color: brownish, lighter on under 

 parts; a well marked brown band on sides extending through eye to middle of snout; fins plain. 



The range of this species coincides with that of Siphostoma floridce.- In 

 Beaufort Harbor it is found in the same localities and at the same time as 

 Siphostoma floridce, but is less abundant. Dr. W. C. Kendall collected specimens 

 at Morehead in April, 1891. In the first half of June, 1905, Mr. B. A. Bean 

 found the fish abundant on grassy shoals in all parts of Beaufort Harbor, many 

 of them containing eggs about ready to hatch. ^- 



148. SIPHOSTOMA FUSCUM (Storer.) 

 Pipe-fish. 



Syngnathua fuacus Storer, Report on Fishes of Massachusetts, 162, 1839; Nahant, Mass. 

 Syngnathua peckianus. Yarrow, 1877, 204; Bird Shoal, Beaufort Harbor. 



Siphoatoma fuacum. Jordan* Gilbert, 1879, 368; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 770; Cape Ann to 

 Virginia, Linton, 1905, 359; Beaufort, 



Diagnosis. — Ventral surface convex, with a very slight keel; bony rings 18 to 21 on 

 trunk, 36 to 40 on caudal part; head short, its length contained 7.5 to 9 times in total length; 

 snout half length of head; tail much longer than trunk and .6 total length; dorsal fin longer than 

 head, its rays 36 to 41, its base covering 4 to 5 trunk rings and 4 to 5 caudal rings. Color: dark 

 green or brown above, lighter below; irregularly mottled with brown; snout pale beneath; 

 opercles silvery below, {fuscum, brown.) 



Yarrow (1877) records a pipe-fish from Beaufort under a name now referred 

 to the synonymy of Siphostoma fuscum, and Jordan and Gilbert (1879) also list 

 the species; but Jordan and Evermann (1896) assign to this species a range which 

 extends no farther south than Virginia. However, 2 small pipe-fishes now in 

 the U. S. National Museum, collected by Yarrow at Beaufort in 1872, are 

 Siphostoma fuscum, as is also another specimen 6.25 inches long in the museum, 

 collected by Mr. Earll in Middle Sound, near Wilmington, in 1880. Specimens 

 now in hand, 5.25 and 6.37 inches long, obtained at Beaufort in the summer of 

 1902, are clearly referable to this northern species. In one, a female, the rings 

 are 21 -|- 36, of which 5 body rings and 4.5 caudal rings are covered by the dorsal 

 fin, which has 41 rays; in the other, a male containing eggs, the rings are 20 -f- 38, 

 of which 4-1-5 are under the base of the dorsal fin, which has 38 rays; in both the 

 snout is half the length of head. 



This is the only species of pipe-fish mentioned by Linton (1905) in his 

 paper on the parasites of the fishes of Beaufort; he lists 90 specimens taken in 

 July and August, but it is probable that most of them were the much commoner 

 species, louisianoe and floridw. 



