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Review of the Fish of Cuba 



fauna of our coast south of Charleston has been published, but 

 no doubt many Serrcmini will be found there which are on Pro- 

 fessor Poey's lists. J. C. B. 



Characters of the genus. The genus Trisotropis was well es- 

 tablished by Mr. Gilí in the Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1865, p. 104, in order to in- 

 clude a group of fish of the subfamily of Serranini, family Pér- 

 cidos,. It may at once be distinguished by the very projecting 

 lower jaw; the mouth opening beyond the eyes, which last are 

 high up; the fin-ray formula, D. XI. 16—17, A. III. 11; the 

 squarely truncated caudal with two short points ; the small and 

 numerous scales covering all the head to the end of the snout, 

 even on the maxillaries, where they are very small, and on the 

 base of the membrane supporting the vertical fins. The jaws, 

 besides the external row, have card-like and movable ones ; 

 the skull is broad and flattened above, with very low occipital 

 ridges. Other details may be found in Mr. Gill's article above 

 quoted. I will add that the canines are short and robust, the 

 nostrils cióse together, the anus a little advanced. The teeth of 

 the vomer form a half circle. The last spiny ray of the dorsal is 

 longer than the one in front of it ; the anal spines are small, fee- 

 ble, and covered by the skin ; the scales, hardly ciliated, are al- 

 most always covered by the epidermis ; very small scales mixed 

 with the large ones are sometimes found, looking like small glands 

 under the epidermis. The color in all the Cuban species is of 

 a brown violet, with spots or wavy bands of dark brown, some- 

 times accompanied with reddish spaces. The upright fins often 

 have a narro w white border ; theintestine is small, with the usual 

 circumvolutions, sometimes a little gathered into a ball behind ; 

 the caecums very long, about twelve in number ; the air-bladder 

 is narrow ; the suborbital bones are five in number, and there is 

 also a small bone strongly imbedded in the post-frontal, besides 

 the ordinary supra-temporal bones. Each maxillary has a labial. 

 Vertebra 10 — 14, the six first without transverse apophysse. 



