THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 233 



Genus Hippocampus Rafinesque. 

 The Sea Horses. 

 Key to the species. 



. / 



a. Dorsal 19, on 3^^ -j- o rings ; body mottled, not dotted. hudsonius 



aa. Dorsal 17 or 18, on 2 caudal rings ; light blue spots on head and snout. 



PUNCTULATUS 



Hippocampus hudsonius De Kay. 



Plate 21. 



Sea Horse. Horse Fish. 



Head i^ in trunk measured over back from gill-opening; 

 depth of trunk i^^; width of trunk 4; trunk 2 in tail; D. 19; 

 A. 4; P. 15; rings 11 +37; depth of head, at coronet, i^ in 

 length; width of head 2^ ; snout 234 ; eye GV^ ; base of dorsal 

 lYs', interorbital space i^ in eye. Body deep, trunk short and 

 compressed. Tail tapering, quadrangular, and with rather robust 

 point. Head deep, compressed. Snout a little long, and profile 

 deeply concave posteriorly. Eye small, rounded, and a trifle 

 anterior. Mouth small, terminal, superior, and with jaws con- 

 spicuously protruding. Interorbital space forming isoceles tri- 

 angle directed in front of eyes. Gill-opening small, lateral, open- 

 ing upward, high and close to nape near nuchal keel. Coronet 

 high, its upper surface concave, with 2 lateral and i posterior 

 tubercles, also an elevated prominence springing from ridge in 

 front furnished with a tubercle anteriorly. Below latter on each 

 side of head a tubercle. Interorbital space with each edge of 

 triangle continued as bony ridges till over eye posteriorly where 

 they form a superorbital tubercle. Shoulder-girdle with 3 tu- 

 bercles. Bones on head striate. Rings with concave surfaces 

 with well-developed tubercles but becoming obsolete as they pro- 

 gress on tail. Fins with simple rays, dorsal rather low, beginning 

 in front of tenth ring and extending on second caudal ring. Anal 

 small, short, on first caudal ring. Pectoral with a broad base, 

 ra3'S rather short. Dusky, nearly uniform. Dorsal with a dark 

 submarginal band. Length about 6 inches. Beesley's Point. 



