BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
232 
Color in alcohol, dusky silvery, darkest above, palest on belly; head dusky, snout and lower jaw 
blotched and spotted with darker; dorsal and anal fins pale, with dusky or black on some of the 
membranes and narrowly edged with black, in some specimens the black very marked; caudal pale, 
edged with black; ventrals black at tips; pectorals pale. Smaller examples 4 to 5 inches long are, in 
spirits, much darker, being dark brow n covered with darker coffee-colored specks; all the fins except 
pectorals black. 
The above description is based chiefly upon a specimen (No. 03396) 11.75 inches long, from 
Honolulu. 
This species seems to be close to Priacanthus hamruhr, from which it differs chiefly in the greater 
depth of the body, the color, and much greater length of the dorsal and anal rays, and in the smaller 
scales, in current descriptions of 1‘. hamruhr, the depth of the body is said to be nearly equal to the 
length of the head; in our specimens it greatly exceeds the length of the head. 
This species appears to be an important food-fish at. Honolulu and is fairly abundant. Our collec¬ 
tions contain an excellent series of 9 specimens from Honolulu and 6 from Hilo. We have also exam¬ 
ined the type, taken at Honolulu by Dr. Jenkins, and the 2 cotypes, collected also at Honolulu by Dr. 
Wood. These specimens range from 4 to 12.5 inches in length. 
Priancanthus hamruhr, Steindac.hner, Dents. Ak. Wiss. Wien, LXX, 1900, 1st (Honolulu; Laysan): not of Forskiil, whose 
species has scales 75 to SO. 
Priacanthus merki Jenkins. Bull. 1'. S. Fish Comm.. XXII, 1902 (Sept. 2(1, 190(1), 150, fig. 20. Honolulu. (Type, No. 50817, 
U. S. N. M.; coll. O. ?. Jenkins.) 
Family LXII. 1.11IANI H E.—The Snappers. 
Body oblong or more or less elevated, covered with moderate-sized adherent scales, which are more 
or less ‘strongly ctenoid or almost cycloid; lateral line, well developed, concurrent with the back, not 
extending on the caudal tin; head large, the crests on the skull usually largely developed; no suhorllital 
stay; mouth moderate or large, usually terminal, low and horizontal; premaxillaries moderately pro¬ 
tractile, their spines not extending to the occiput; maxillary long, without supplemental bone, for 
most of its length slipping under the edge of the preorbital, which forms a more or less distinct sheath, 
its form essentially as in the Scrranuh-; teeth various, unequal and sharp, never incisor-like, some of 
them sometimes molar; vomer and palatines usually with villiform teeth, these sometimes molar, 
sometimes very small, sometimes wanting; lower pliaryngealsseparate; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; 
pseudobranchnc large; gillrakers moderate or long, slender; gill-membranes separate, free from the 
isthmus; preopercle serrate or entire; opercles without spines; sides of head usually scaly; dorsal fin 
single, continuous, or deeply notched, sometimes divided into 2 fins, the spines usually st l ong, depress- 
ible in a groove, the spines hetcracantlious- that is, alternating, tin.' one stronger on the right side, the 
other on the left, the spines 10 to 12 in number; anal fin similar to soft dorsal and with 3 spines; 
ventral fins thoracic, the rays i, 5, with a more or less distinct scale-like appendage at base; caudal fin 
usually more or less concave behind; air-bladder present, usually simple; intestinal canal short.; pyloric 
cceca few; vertebrae usually 10 , 14=24; no distinct tubercles from the cranium for the articulation of 
the epipharyngeal bones; enlarged apophyses for the articulation of palatine and preorbital bones; 
anterior 4 vertebrae without parapophyses. This family comprises about 20 genera and some 250 
species, chiefly inhabiting the shores of warm regions. All of them are valued as food, and all are 
active, carnivorous and voracious. The group is closely related to the Srrranidx on the one hand, and 
to the Ihnmdidir on the other. 
Of the many genera of this family only 6 are known to have representatives in Hawaiian w aters. 
a. Interorbital not (lilt nor separated from the occipital region, the median and lateral crests proenrrent on it, and the 
iron till narrowed forward. 
h. Teeth on tongue minute or entirely absent. 
c. Teeth on palatines, vomer, and jaws, tile outer series on the jaws enlarged and canine-like; preopercle somewhat 
serrate. Apsilus, p. 238 
cc. No teeth on palatines, vomer, or tongue, those on jaws not enlarged nor canine-like; preopercle entire. 
Apharcus, p, 235 
hh. Teeth on tongue strong, as well as on palatines and vomer and both jaws, those on latter somewhat enlarged and 
canine-like. . liowcrsia, p. 23ti 
no. Interorbital flat, separated by a transverse line of demarcation from the occipital region, by which the median as 
well as the lateral crests are limited; frontals wide in front. 
d, Dorsal fin continuous...... Aprion , p. 238 
dd. Dorsal tin divided, the spinous portion separated from the rays by a deep notch. Etelis, p. 240 
