388 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Ocean, differing from that species in being of a uniform plumbeous color above and silvery below, 
with no undulating line on the side, such as is characteristic of S. jello. Cuvier & Valenciennes 
describe the color of S. jello thus: “The black of the back and the silvery color of the ventral surface 
are separated by a festooned or serpentine line on the side of the body close to the lateral line.” 
S. helleri is related also, perhaps, to S. idiastes Snodgrass & Heller, 1 of the Galapagos Islands, differing 
from this species in the smaller number of scales on the opercles and body. 
This species is named for Mr. Edmund Heller, who, with Mr. Robert- E. Snodgrass, has made 
valuable contributions to the knowledge of the fishes of the Galapagos Islands. 
One specimen collected by me at Honolulu. Type No. 49692, U. S. National Museum. 
The following gives the measurements and the numbers of fin rays and scales of the specimen: 
Sphynena helleri. 
No. 1. 
Sphyrsena helleri. 
No. 1. 
330 
.045 
Head in length 
.31 
.20 
Depth 
.12 
V 
Pectoral 
. 09(?) 
10 
Ventral 
. 07(?) 
10 
Eye 
.07 
123 
.13 
12-15 
Sphyrsena snodgrassi Jenkins, new species. Fig. 2. 
Head 3.25 in length of body; depth 6 in length. D. v, 10; A. 9. Shape of head and body 
regularly fusiform. Lower jaw 
projecting beyond upper a distance 
a little less than diameter of pupil; 
tip simply bluntly conical, not ter- 
minated by flesh y appendage. Eye 
somewhat ovate, larger end ante- 
rior, longitudinal diameter 4.75 in 
head. Interorbital space slightly 
concave, about equal to vertical 
diameter of eye. Maxillary reaches 
to front of eye. Suborbital scaled, 
15 vertical rows of scales from eye 
to edge of preopercle, 10 rows on 
opercle, those of opercle enlarged; 
rest of head naked. Opercle with- 
out spines. (Some specimens have one or even two very weakly developed flat points on the 
opercle. ) Upper jaw with two slender elongate teeth anteriorly on each side, along sides of jaw 
a single series of very small teeth. Lower jaw with two large anterior median teeth, and back of 
them a series of fifteen small ones in each ramus. Palatines and pterygoids with a long series of 
teeth, those of the palatines long and slender like those in the front of the jaws. Distance from 
occiput to front of first dorsal equal to distance from first dorsal to second dorsal, and to distance from 
second dorsal to base of caudal rays, which distance is 1.66 in head. Dorsal rays v, 10. First and 
second dorsal spines longest, 3 in head; fifth spine a little more than half of first. Second, third, and 
fourth rays of second dorsal longest, one-half longer than first spine. Anal rays 9. Anal fin very 
slightly behind soft dorsal, of same shape and size. Caudal deeply forked, lobes equal, longest rays 
1.5 in head. Pectoral 8.5 in length. Ventral 9.5 in length. Lateral line slightly decurved on body 
before second dorsal, posterior part straight. 
Color in life: Above lateral line plumbeous, below silvery, top of head blackish; a large dusky 
blotch on middle rays of second dorsal and of anal; tips of second dorsal and of caudal white; other 
parts of caudal dusky. 
This species is most closely related to Sphyrtena commersonii Cuvier & Valenciennes, 2 of the 
eastern part of the Indian Ocean. It differs from S. commersonii in being less slender, in having a 
somewhat longer pectoral fin, and in having the black blotches on the soft dorsal and anal fins. 
1 Sphyrsena idiastes Snodgrass & Heller, ms., Fishes of Tropical Islands of Eastern Pacific. 
- Sphyrsena commersonii Cuv. & Val., His. Nat. Poiss., in, p. 352; Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., ii, p. 338. 
