BRAMOIDS. 
77 
RAY’S SEA-BREAM. 
BEAM A RAIL 
Plate VI, fig. 1. 
Length of 
bodg. 
the lower jaw less than 2 / 5 of the length of the anal fin, which' is more than 2 / 5 of the length of the 
Greatest height of the dorsal fin less than 2 / 5 of its length or than 3 / 4 of the length of the head. 
R. br. 7 ; 
C. # + 15 + # 
D. 
3 1. 4 
30—32 
; A. 
2 1. 3 
28—30’ 
P. 2 + 17 1. 20; 
V. 
Syn. Brama marina cauda forcipata, Ray, Syn. Pise., pag. 115. 
Spams Raii, Bl., Ausl. Fiscli., part. 5, p. 95, tab. 273; Id. 
('Brama'), Syst. ed. Schneider, p. 99; SchagerstrSm, Vet.- 
Akad. Handl. 1827, p. 207, tab. VII; Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss ., vol. VII, p. 281, tab. 190; Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. 
Scand., p. 71; Krdy., Damn. Fislee, vol. 1, p. 211; Nilss., 
Slcand. Fn., Fisk., p. 121; Gthr, Brit. Mus. Cat., Fish. vol. 
II, p. 408; Lunel, Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Geneve, vol. 
XVIII, p. 170, Rev. Castagn., tab. I; Steind., Stzber. Math. 
Naturw. Cl. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 57 (1868), I, p. 374; Coll., 
Vid. Selsk. Forh. Christ. 1874, Tillsegsh., p. 46; ibid. 1879, 
p. 30; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fn., p. 420; Winth., Zool. Dan., 
Fiske, p. 18, tab. IV, fig. 8; Id. Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn., 
ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 14; Lute., Spot. Atl., Vid. Selsk. Skr., 
Kbhvn, ser. 5, vol. XII, p. 491, tab. IV, fig. 1; Day, Fish. 
G:t Brit., Irel., vol. 1, p. 114, tab: XLI; Lillj., Sv., Norg. 
Fiskar, part. I, p. 300; Jord. et Gilb., Syn. N. Amer. 
Fish., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, p. 915. 
Brama chilensis, Gay et Br. australis, Val. (Cuv. R. Anim. 
illustr., tab. 44, fig. 1): — vide Lunel, 1. c., p. 179. 
Brama japonica, IIilgend. — vide tamen Lutken, 1. c., p. 494. 
The form of the body is high, and in this, as in 
the other species of the genus, assumes with age almost 
equal curves of the dorsal and ventral profiles. In 
youth, however, the curve of the ventral profile is 
much the sharper, especially in front, and the eye is 
near the profile of the forehead, but in the adult state 
the forehead and occiput are elevated as in Corgpluena, 
so that the eye is apparently removed lower down, 
though it really retains its original position, its centre 
being about on a level with the tip of the snout. 
Another character which may be employed, though 
none the less with caution, to distinguish Ray’s Bream, 
is the straight base of the anal fin with a distinct 
angle in its break towards the anterior ventral profile. 
Caution is necessary as in youth the base is more 
curved, though less than that of the dorsal, and the 
curve of the ventral profile is then continued along the 
anterior part of the base of the anal fin. The peduncle 
of the caudal fin is narrow and its lateral compression 
much stronger in young specimens than in old, which 
in this respect approach nearer and nearer the Macke- 
Fig. 23. Young specimen of Ray’s Sea-Bream labelled “Brazilia” 
from the older collections in the Royal Museum. Natural size. 
rel-type. The form of the body becomes on the whole 
lower* and thicker 0 with age. The height of the point- 
ed anterior part of the dorsal and anal fins increases 
with age, up to a certain degree at least, while the re- 
mainder of the fin becomes comparatively lower. But, 
as the length of the fins increases with age still more 
rapidly, their height in proportion to their length di- 
minishes as the fish grows older' 7 . Increasing age 
has an exactly opposite effect on the pectoral and 
ventral fins: it lengthens the former and shortens the 
“ In a specimen from the Mediterranean we find C. #.+ 16+#. 
b Iu a specimen 56 mm. in length the greatest depth = 48 % of the length, while in a specimen 472 mm. long it is only 41 %. 
c In the smaller specimen just mentioned the greatest thickness of the head is 26 % of the greatest depth of the body, in the larger 
it has been presumably about 29 % (the specimen is stuffed), and according to Lilljeborg it may rise as high as 35 %. The statement of 
Cuvier, Lunel etc. that in adult specimens the thickness of the body may be as low as 25 % of the greatest depth, presumably refers to 
the thickness behind the head. 
a In the smaller specimen • mentioned above, the height of the dorsal fin is almost 36 % of its length, in the larger specimen only 30 
/; and that a diminution in the height of the dorsal fin, even in proportion to that of the body, may occur after a certain age, seems pro- 
ved by Lilljeborg’s observation of a specimen 210 mm. in length from the Mediterranean with “the greatest height of the dorsal fin slightly 
less than V, of that of the body,” while the height of the dorsal fin in the specimen 472 mm. in length which belongs to the Royal Museum, 
is only about 2 / 5 of the greatest height of the body. 
