332 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



286. DORATONOTUS MEGALEPIS Gtinther. 



Doratonotus megalepis Gunther, Catalogue of Fished in British Museum, iv, 1862; St, Kitts. Jordan & Ever- 

 mann, 1898, 1611. 



Diagnosis. — ^Body much compressed, rather deep, depth .37 length; caudal peduncle 

 short and deep; length of head a little less than depth; top of head depressed; mouth wide, 

 maxillary .25 length of head; snout long, slender, compressed, .3 length of head; eye .2 length 

 of head; gill-membranes broadly united; lateral line following line of back to beyond dorsal 

 fin, there broken and continues horizontally on peduncle; scales in lateral series 20; a single 

 row of 4 large scales on cheeks, 5 or 6 similar scales on opercles; dorsal rays ix,10, the first 3 

 spines with filamentous appendages; anal rays iii, 9 ; caudal rounded; pectorals extending beyond 

 ventrals; ventrals short, .5 head. Color: uniformly bright grass-green, head a little lighter; 

 the green of the dorsal, anal, caudal, and ventral fins mottled with orange; pectorals light yel- 

 low, (megalepis, large-scaled.) 



An example of this rare and beautiful species, of which 6 specimens are 

 known, from the West Indies and Florida, was taken by the steamer Fish-Hawk 

 (station 7344) off Cape Lookout, at a depth of 13 fathoms, September 12, 1902. 

 The fish was 1.75 inches long. The maximum size attained by the species is 

 2.75 or 3 inches. 



Fig. 149. Razor-Fish. Xyrichthys psittacus. 



Genus XYRICHTHYS Cuvier. Razor-fishes. 

 The razor-fishes are brilliantly colored tropical species, so named because 

 of their extremely compressed oblong bodies, the upper and anterior edges being 

 sharp. Body deepest immediately behind head, whence it tapers gradually to 

 the rather broad caudal peduncle; head very short, deeper than long; profile from 

 eye to mouth nearly vertical; eyes small, near top of head; mouth small, low, 

 terminal, with 2 anterior canines in each jaw; scales rather large, head practically 

 naked; lateral line high, interrupted posteriorly and beginning again on a lower 

 row of scales; dorsal fin beginning close behind eye, long, low, and continuous, 

 with 9 spines. Several American species. (^Xyrichthys, razor-fish.) 



287. XYRICHTHYS PSITTACUS (Linnaeus). 



Razor-fish. 



Coryphcena psittacus Linnaeus, Systema Naturffi, ed. xii, 448, 1766; Charieston, S. C 

 Xyrichthys "psittacus, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 1618, pi. ccxlii, fig. 607. 



