Zoology.) NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Fishes. 



Plate 33. 



SEBASTES PERCOIDES (Solander sp.). 



The Banded Red Gurnet-Perch. 



[Genus SEBASTES (Cuv.). (Sub~kingd. Vertebrata. Class Pisces. Order Acanthop- 

 terygia. Earn. Triglidse. Sub-fam. Scorpseninae.) 



Gen. Char. — Ovate, compressed ; head scaly on all the pieces to or beyond the orbits ; no 

 occipital groove ; usually a few small spines on each side of top of head. Preoperculum armed 

 with spines. Scales moderate ; no skinny appendages on head or sides. Pins — one dorsal, the 

 spinous portion of 12 or 13 rays separated by a notch from the soft branched rays ; anal fin 

 with three spines ; pectoral moderate, rounded, with the rays of the lower half simple. Strong 

 villiform teeth on the jaws, palatines, and vomer. Seven branchiostegals. Air-bladder generally 

 present. Pyloric appendages few or moderate. All seas.] 



Description. — Form: ovate, moderately elongate and compressed, profile of 

 head moderately convex, lower jaw ascending when the mouth is shut, with a 

 conspicuous knob under its symphysis forming then the anterior extremity of the 

 head ; greatest depth, between third and fourth spines of dorsal, about three and a 

 half times in the total length, including the caudal fin ; thickness of the body rather 

 more than half the depth ; length of the head slightly more than the depth of the 

 body ; curves of the back and belly nearly equal, that of the back blending gradually 

 with the profile of the head. Orbit large, slightly more than one-fourth the length 

 of the head, and slightly less than its own diameter from tip of snout, and its own 

 diameter from base of suprascapular spine; space between orbits about half the 

 vertical diameter of the eye. One strong recumbent spine just over nostril, one 

 strong spine on nasal bone, one somewhat larger on upper front edge of orbit; 

 middle of superciliary ridge smooth but continued with a row of 5 gradually 

 increasing decumbent spines extending with slight divergence to back of head. 

 The preorbital bone has two, broad, triangular spines on its lower edge, the anterior 

 one more obtuse and flattened than the posterior. The preoperculum has 5 strong- 

 spines on its hind edge, the second from the top largest ; below the edge of each is 

 a deep pit in the edge of the bone. Two spines on the hind edge of the operculum, 

 above and in front of which are two small, triangular, suprascapular spines. Upper 

 edge of dorsal moderately arched, the first spine smallest and directed forwards, the 

 third spine longest, the others decreasing gradually to the eleventh, the twelfth spine 

 about as long as the ninth ; the soft dorsal rises to about the height of the tallest 

 spine. Seven lower rays of pectoral, thick and unbranched, projecting far beyond 

 the membrane ; border of fin slightly convex posteriorly. Hays : branchiostegal, 7 ; 

 dorsal, 12 spinous and 13 branched ; pectoral, 13 ; ventral, 6 ; anal, 3 spinous and 

 5 branched ; caudal, 18. Scale* : above and below lateral line in vertical series, 



■ ; along lateral line, 52 to 55. Color : variable ; cheeks, sides, tail, and 



upper part of the body orange, scarlet or vermilion, and carmine-red, dotted or 

 minutely spotted with blackish-brown, rendering the top of the head and middle 

 of the back darkest ; one or two broad vertical bands from the third to the ninth 

 dorsal spine extend downwards three-quarters of the depth of the midline of belly ; 

 another similar band, the width of the base of the soft dorsal, extends quite across 

 to the middle of the base of the anal ; a third band crosses posterior end of body 

 at base of caudal fin ; these bands are formed by a confluence of the more numerous 

 blackish freckles of the upper part of the body, a few of which are also scattered 

 Dec. iv. r 17 ] c 



