150 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Color in alcohol, rather uniform yellowish silvery, most yellow above, most silvery below lateral 
line and on belly; upper edge of operele black; cheek and opercle silvery; axil of pectoral dusky; 
fins all pale yellowish white; upper edge of eye dusky, the rest whitish and golden; side below lateral 
line with about 5 broad lighter horizontal stripes showing plainly only in certain lights. 
There is some variation in the number of rays in the dorsal, there being usually 17, but sometimes 
16, and more rarely 18. The scales in the lateral line vary from 40 to 43. 
This species was originally described by I)<fetor Gunther from a small example, 6 inches long, from 
the island of Vavau, of the Tonga or Friendly Group. It seems to bean abundant fish among the 
Hawaiian Islands and at Samoa. Five specimens were obtained by I)r. Jenkins at Honolulu in 1889, 
one by Dr. Wood in 1896, a fine series was taken by us at Honolulu and Hilo, and it was obtained by 
the Albatross at Laysan Island. Our numerous specimens range in length from 3.8 to 7.5 inches. 
Mi/ripi'i*!/* vudtirnrUalm Gunther, Fische der Sudsee, I, 93, 1874, Vavau. one of the Friendly Islands; Jenkins, Bull. U. S. 
Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 439 (Honolulu); Snyder, op. cit. (Jan. 19, 1904), 523 (Laysan Island). 
106. Myripristis chryseres Jordan & Evermann. “ I’auu.” Plate VI. 
Head 2.75 in length; depth 2.5; eye 2.4 in head; snout 5.5; maxillary 1.9; mandible 1.8; inter¬ 
orbital 5; D. x-i, 14; A. iv, 12; scales 4-34-6. 
Body short, stout, and compressed; dorsal profile evenly convex from tip of snout to origin of soft, 
dorsal; ventral outline nearly straight to origin of anal, whose base is equally oblique with that of 
soft dorsal; caudal peduncle short but slender and not greatly compressed, its length from base of last 
dorsal ray to first short spinous caudal ray 1.3 in eye, its least width about 3 in its least depth, which is 
1.8 in eye; head heavy, short; mouth moderately large, the gape in closed mouth reaching vertical of 
middle of eye; maxillary very broad, triangular, reaching nearly to vertical of posterior line of eye, 
with a broad, curved supplemental border; surface of maxillary roughly striated, anterior edge near 
the angle strongly dentate; lower jaw strong, somewhat projecting, the tip with 2 rounded, rough 
prominences fitting into a distinct notch in upper jaw; teeth short, in narrow villiform hands in jaws 
and on palatines, a small patch on vomer, none on tongue; eye very large, orbit exceeding postocular 
part of head; lower edge of eye on level with axis of body; snout short, 2 in orbit; interorbital space 
nearly flat, strongly rugose; 2 long ridges from preorbitals to nape; outside of these a short ridge 
beginning above front of pupil, extending backwark, and branching upon nape; supraocular ridge 
spineseent posteriorly; suborbital narrow, strongly dentate below, upper edge in front somewhat 
roughened; opercular bones all strongly toothed; opercular spine short and obscure (stronger in most 
of the cotypes); dorsal spines slender, fifth longest and strongest, its length 2.5 in head; first dorsal 
spine somewhat posterior to base of pectoral, its length 2 in eye, spines gradually shorter from fifth; 
space between dorsals very short, about equal to length of tenth spine; dorsal rays long, length of 
longest a little greater than orbit, last equal to pupil; first anal spine very short, second short and 
triangular, its length about 1.5 in pupil; third anal spine long, strong, and straight, longer than fourth, 
its length equal to diameter of orbit; fourth anal spine slender, its length 1.3 in orbit; anal rays longer 
than those of dorsal; caudal widely forked, lobes equal, their length 1.5 in head; pectoral long and 
narrow, its length 1.4 in head, the tip reaching past tips of ventrals; ventrals slender, pointed, nearly 
reaching vent and nearly as long as pectoral. 
Scales smaller than in M. murdjan, number in lateral line 34 in type, 35 to 38 in some of the 
cotypes; scales strongly dentate, and striate near the edges; a strongly dentate humeral scale. 
Color in life, bright scarlet, centers of the scales paler; a blackish-red bar behind and on edge of 
opercle, continued as red (not black) into the axil; first dorsal golden, with red basal blotches on 
membranes; second dorsal golden, with crimson at base, spine and first ray white; caudal golden,first 
ray white above and below; anal golden, the spines and first ray white; all the vertical fins narrowly 
edged with red; ventrals mostly pink, with golden wash on first rays; pectoral plain crimson; axil 
light red. 
Color in alcohol, yellowish or orange white, the edges of the scales paler; some of the scales with 
small brownish dustings on the edges; edge of opercle black; opercle and cheek somewhat silvery; 
fins all pale yellowish, without dark edges. In some individuals the general color is more silvery, and 
in one example (No. 04860) the axil of the pectoral is somewhat dusky. In life the color is more 
scarlet than in M. -murdjan and the fins yellow, not red as in the latter and all other Hawaiian species. 
