82 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
actually were developed they have been lost. Pigmentation has advanced rather 
rapidly. The chief color markings are shown in the accompanying illustration (fig. 25). 
Specimens 40 to 50 millimeters long . — The head is lower and notably broader than 
in fish about 30 millimeters long. Although the snout is more rounded than in youngei 
fish, it still remains narrower and rather more pointed than in the adult. The small 
eye, though lateral, is near the dorsal outline; the interorbital is broad, its width 
being contained 2.4 to 2.8 times in the head. Several bony ridges are present on the 
head among which caverns occur. The preopercle has a few small spines at the 
angle and the interopercular margin is strongly serrate, the spines at the angle being 
largest. The scapular spines have become much smaller. The caudal fin apparently 
remains rather longer and more pointed than in the adult, the longest rays being 
more than an eye’s diameter longer than the head. Pigmentation is general. The 
Figure 25 . — Stellifer lanceolatus. From a specimen 29 millimeters long. (After Welsh and Breder.) 
back of preserved specimens is fight brown and the lower parts are silvery. The 
elongate dark spot on the upper part of the opercle and the dusky color around the 
mouth remain as in smaller specimens. Dark blotches, present in somewhat younger 
fish, along the back generally persist, but are less distinct, the color being more 
generally distributed as dusky points. The spinous dorsal is dusky, and all the other 
fins have dark dots, being very few, however, on the ventrals and pectorals. A dusky 
bar remains present on the base of the caudal fin. 
Specimens 75 to 85 millimeters long . — Fish of this size are young adults, having the 
body proportions of full-grown fish. The head is somewhat depressed and its dorsal 
outline is slightly concave over and behind the posterior margin of the eye, as in the 
adult. The snout is broad, bluntly conical, and almost as broad as deep at anterior 
margin of the eye. The mouth is oblique, but wholly below the level of the lower 
margin of eye; the maxillary reaches about under posterior margin of the pupil. 
The small eye is shorter than the snout, and not as wide as the interorbital, its diameter 
being contained 4.4 to 4.8 times in the head. The preopercular spines are small, and 
those on the interopercle are strong, as in full grown fish. The scapular spines, 
described in younger fish, are now represented as serrations on an enlarged scale. 
The caudal fin remains rather pointed and is about as long as the head. The pectoral 
fins are long, being only a little shorter than the head. The color remains about the 
same, as in 40 to 50 millimeter fish. The dark points on the fins have become more 
numerous, however, and the anal and the tips of ventrals are quite dusky. 
Specimens of this size have virtually all the characters of the adult and are 
easily recognized. Figure 26 illustrates the adult without indicating the scales. 
