FISHES OF EL SALVADOR 
277 
January and February, contained small ova, indicating that the spawning season 
was not near at hand. The contents of four stomachs examined consisted of the 
remains of fish, insects, insect larvae, spicules of sponges, filaments of algae, and 
fragments of higher plants. 
The species is named in honor of the late Dr. Seth E. Meek, curator of fishes in 
the Field Museum of Natural History, who contributed much to our knowledge of 
the fishes of Mexico and Central America. 
The specimens were collected in the following waters: Lake Guija, Lake 
Metapan, Lake Chalchuapa, Rio Sucio at Sitio del Nino, Rio Lempa at Suchitoto 
and San Marcos, Rio San Miguel at San Miguel; and Lake Olomega. 
20. Cichlasoma trimaculatum (Giinther) 
Guapote; Mojarra; Istatagua 
Heros trimaculatus Giinther, Trans., Zodl. Soc, London, VI, 1868, 4(jl, Fl. LXXVI ((,'hiapani and Huarnuchal, Pacific slope, 
Guatemala); Jordan and Evermann, Bull., U. S. Nat. Mus., XLVU, 1898, 1029. 
Cichlasoma trimaculatum Regan, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 7 ser., XVI, 1905, 333, and Biol. Cent. Amer., Pisces, 190(i, 28. 
Head 2.3 to 2.75; depth 2.1 to 2.45; D. XVTI (rarely XVIII) 11 or 12; A. VII 
(rarely VIII) 8 to 10; scales 29 to 31. 
Body moderately elongate, becoming proportionately deeper with age; profile 
nearly straight over the head in young, concave in adult; caudal peduncle much 
deeper than long, its least depth 2.3 to 2.9 in head; head not much longer than deep; 
snout rather pointed, 2.5 to 3.6 in head; eye 3.35 to 5; interorbital 2.3 to 3.8; pre- 
orbital about half the diameter of eye in young (specimen 55 millimeters long), 
nearly as broad as eye in adult (specimen 185 millimeters long) ; mouth moderate, 
oblique; lower jaw projecting; maxillary partly exposed, reaching about to vertical 
from anterior margin of eye, 2.65 to 3.85 in head; premaxillary process extending 
about to middle of eye; lower lip with its lower margin free throughout; teeth in 
the jaws pointed, the anterior pair in upper jaw enlarged, canine like, the anterior 
pair in lower jaw small, the next two pairs enlarged similar to the anterior pair in 
upper jaw; gill rakers short, 7 to 9 more or less developed on the lower limb of first 
arch; scales rather large, somewhat reduced on nape and chest, extending on base 
of vertical fins, 5 rows between origin of dorsal and lateral line, about 6 rows on 
cheeks; dorsal fin long, the spines graduated, the last a little more than one-third 
the length of head, the median soft rays produced, the filaments varying in length 
among individuals, sometimes reaching the end of caudal fin but usually shorter, 
the origin of fin over margin of opercle; caudal fin round; anal spines stronger than 
the dorsal spines, the longest one longer than the last dorsal spine, about 2.6 in 
head, the origin of fin about equidistant from base of pectoral and end of anal base; 
ventral fins reaching past origin of anal to base of third or fourth spine in the young, 
shorter in the adult, the outer ray usually more or less produced; pectoral fins reach- 
ing scarcely as far back as the ventrals, 1.3 to 1.65 in head. 
Color variable, a fresh specimen, 270 millimeters long, olivaceous, with a large 
wine-colored area in pectoral region, extending on gill covers; sides with 5 blackish 
blue blotches, the anterior one above origin of lateral line and the last on upper half 
of base of caudal; fins all olivaceous, the pectorals paler than the other fins, the 
