SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 



173 



Diagnosis. — Rings on trunk 12, on tail 32 to 35; snout less than half total length of head; 

 spines on body short and blunt, those on head with cirri; diameter of eye equal to half length of 

 snout; dorsal rays 19, covering 3.5 trunk rings. Color: varying from light ashy to dark brown, 

 with pale grayish blotches having paler or blackish edges; dorsal with a dark zone near the 

 margin, {hudsonius, relating to Hudson River.) 



This is a rather uncommon species, found from Massachusetts to South 

 Carolina. It is not common on the North Carolina coast. Yarrow lists the fish 

 as doubtless rare, in 1871, as several were presented to him by the fishermen as 

 great curiosities. Jordan and Gilbert found it uncommon in 1878, being pre- 

 served by the fishermen as curiosities and sold to visitors at about 25 cents per 

 specimen. Specimens have occasionally been brought to the Beaufort labora- 

 tory, and a few examples 3 to 6 inches long have recently been collected about 

 Bird Shoal, Perry Island, and Town Marsh. Dr. R. E. Coker reports that a 

 large male taken August 18, 1902, had a pouch full of young and delivered them 

 in the laboratory aquarium August 20. The opening in the pouch is at its 

 anterior end and is slit-like when closed but round when the young are about to 

 be extruded. When liberating the young, the fish swam upright, and made a 

 peculiar effort resembling peristalsis. The young emerged several at a time and 

 were forced some distance from the parent; they swam in a cluster near the sur-- 

 face and on the side of the aquarium nearest the light. 



150. HIPPOCAMPUS PUNCTULATUS Guiclienot. 

 Spotted Sea-horse. 



Hippocampus puTtctulat-us Guichenot, in Sagra, Cuba Poissons, 174, pi. 5, fig. 2, 1850; Cuba. Jenkins, 1885, 11; 

 Beaufort. Jordan, 1886, 30; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 87; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 777; 

 "occasionally northward in Gulf Stream as far as Beaufort, N. C." 



Diagnosis. — Rings on trunk 10, on tail about 35; snout .4 length of head; eye .5 length of 

 snout; spines on body obtuse and blunt; the coronet low; filaments usually absent on head; 

 dorsal rays 17 or 18, the base of fin covering 1.5 trunk rings and 2 caudal rings. Color: dark 

 brown, with darker marblings, the entire body marked by light blue spots (rarely wanting), 

 most numerous posteriorly, {punctidatus, dotted.) 



A rare species on the United States coast, but not uncommon in the West 

 Indies, whence it ranges to Brazil and West Africa. Four specimens were col- 

 lected at Beaufort by Dr. Jenkins in 1885, and one was taken by Mr. Barton A. 

 Bean on Bird Shoal, June 8, 1904. Mr. Charles Hatsel, of the Beaufort labor- 

 atory, collected a specimen in Bogue Sound on August 8, 1905, which lived in a 

 laboratory aquarium until October 10 of the same year. 



Order ACANTHOPTERYGII. The Spiny-rayed Fishes . 



Most of the salt-water fishes and numerous fresh-water ones are included in 

 this order, whose members may be regarded as representing the highest develop- 

 ment among fishes. The order is very complex, comprising such different f amihes 

 as the perches and mullets, the mackerels and flounders; typically it is distin- 

 guished by the presence of spiny rays in the anterior part of the dorsal and anal 

 fins, but in some groups this feature is lacking, and the rqore constant characters 



