FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
145 
Body rather deep, compressed, back slightly arched, anterior profile from snout to tip of first 
dorsal when depressed evenly arched; head moderate, snout conic, projecting almost its entire length 
beyond month, which is large, inferior, with lateral cleft; premaxillary protractile, maxillary without 
supplemental bone, extending for nearly half its length beyond eye; teeth in villiform band on jaws, 
vomer, palatine, and posterior end of tongue; the tongue free for a distance equal to two-thirds of orbit, 
not quite rounded in front, its straight front edge nearly equal to orbit, the front portion rather thin, 
becoming thick and heavy posteriorly; eye large, anterior, lateral, with a well-developed eyelid; gill- 
membranes free from isthmus; gillrakers 16- 13, long and slender, longest equal to diameter of pupil; 
preopercle serrated on its posterior margin, not serrated at angle; first dorsal falcate; second deeply 
forked; caudal deeply forked, upper lobe slightly the larger and longer and slightly longer than head; 
anal similar to soft dorsal but not so deeply forked; scales moderate, finely ctenoid on entire body and 
head; lateral line straight on body, slightly deeurved on base of caudal, extending to tip just below 
angle. 
Color in alcohol, yellowish white with silvery reflections, becoming lighter, almost white on belly; 
upper edge of spinous dorsal dark; soft dorsal tipped with dark; tips of caudal lobes dark; anal with 
light brown on lower half, upper part paler; ventrals pale with small plumbeous spots; pectorals dark 
bluish on outer third, rest dusky pale. The color in alcohol of the young examples, 2 to 4 inches 
long, is quite different from the larger examples. The young are brown above lateral line with 3 
broad bands of darker, the first, band extending over head and to spinous dorsal, second wedge-shaped, 
extending from anterior base of spinous dorsal to and including about half of soft dorsal, the rest of 
soft dorsal pale; third band extending from posterior base of soft dorsal to base of caudal; between 
these bars below lateral line, silvery white; posterior half of anal and ventral white; pectoral pale; 
spinous dorsal dark; caudal lobes dark ; a light band across base of caudal. 
Six specimens 9 to 11 inches long from Honolulu and 25 specimens 3 to 4.6 inches long from Hilo. 
We have also examined a specimen 9 inches long taken by Dr. Jenkins in 1889 and a similar speci¬ 
men obtained by the Albatross in 189], both from Honolulu. The species is known also from Johnston 
Island. 
Polyiirmux scxfilis Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VII, 515, 1831, Isle of France; (iiinthcr, Shore Fishes, Challen¬ 
ger, 59,1880 (Hilo, Hawaii»; Steindachner, Denks. Ak. Wiss. Wien. LXX, 492, 1900 (Honolulu); Jenkins, Hull. 1'. S. 
Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Sejit. 23,1903), 439 (Honolulu); Snyder, op. eit.'(Jan. 19, 1904 i, 523 (Honolulu) 
Trichidion scxjilis, Bleeker, Poiss. Madagascar, 79, 1874 (Mauritius). 
Polynenius he.ranemus, Cantor, Cat. Malay. Fish., 33, 1850 (Sea of Pinang); not of Cuvier & Valenciennes. 
Polj/daclylus p/eifferi, Fowler. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1900, 501 (Hawaiian Islands); not of Bleeker. 
Pohjncmus kuru. Smith & Swain, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 122 (Johnston Island); not of Bleeker. 
Suborder BERYCOIDEI.—The Beryeoid Fishes. 
Body naked or variously scaly, the scales sometimes highly specialized; dorsal fin with few or 
many spines, ventral fins thoracic or subabdominal, each with 1 spine and usually 7 soft rays, the num¬ 
ber of soft rays varying from 5 to 10; in one family (Monocentridse) the spine is greatly enlarged and 
the number of rays reduced; head with conspicuous mucous cavities; air-bladder in some species 
retaining its duet through life (a character verified only in Bery.r) ; vertebras in species examined 24 
to 30; shoulder-girdle and pharyngeals normal; no suborbital stay, orbitosphenoid bone always present. 
A varied group allied to the Percoidei and Scombroidri , but characterized as a whole by the retention 
of the archaic characters of the persistent air-duct and the increased number of ventral rays. In the 
deep-sea forms the spinous dorsal is scarcely developed and the scales are usually either cycloid or 
wanting. In the species of tropical shores the spinous armature of tins and scales is better developed 
than in most, of the percomorphous fishes. The group is a very old one in geologic time, the allies of 
Beryj■ being among the earliest spiny-rayed fishes known. All are marine fishes, inhabiting the 
tropical shores or the abysses of the ocean. 
Family XLYIII.- BERYCID^. 
Body' oblong or ovate, compressed, covered, with ctenoid or cycloid, foliate or granular scales; 
head with large mucifercus cavities, covered by thin skin; eye lateral, usually large; mouth wide, 
oblique; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary rather large, usually with a supplemental bone; subor¬ 
bitals narrow, not sheathing the cheeks; bands of villiform teeth on jaws, and usually on vomer and 
• F. C. B. 1903—10 
