622 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
The anal ray counts definitely separate chuss from floridanus , as the adults of the 
latter have only 40 to 49 anal rays. The specimens herein described as chuss were 
taken off Ivitty Hawk, N. C., and northward, where floridanus is not known to occur. 
The smaller specimens were so identified largely by “locality”, as in the absence of 
specimens of floridanus of similar size it was not possible to know how the two species 
differed. The anal fin ray counts in 15-mm fish, however, aid in establishing the 
identification on a morphological basis. 
Specimens about 25 mm long. — At this length three species; namely, regius, 
floridanus, and chuss, are recognizable among the specimens studied, principally by 
the number of rays in the dorsal and anal fins, and by the length of the chin barbel, 
as shown subsequently. 
The species are not distinguishable by the shape of the body, the shape and 
length of the head, the eye, the snout, nor the mouth. The body has become quite 
slender, and remains compressed, the depth in any one of the three species named 
being contained about 4.0 to 4.6 times in the standard length, and the head 3.3 to 
Figure 135.— Urophycis chuss. From a specimen 15 mm long. 
Figure 136. — Urophycis regius. From a specimen 15 mm long. 
4.0 times. The snout is gradually increasing in length, being contained in the head 
about 4.0 to 4.4 times, and the eye 3.3 to 3.6 times. The mouth remains only slightly 
oblique, and it has become somewhat inferior, with the upper jaw a little in advance 
of the lower one, and the snout projecting slightly beyond the upper jaw. The 
maxillary reaches to or a little beyond the posterior margin of the pupil. 
The barbel at the symphysis of the lower jaw, which first made its appearance in 
regius and chuss when about 15 mm long, remains minute, being scarcely a fourth the 
length of the pupil in those species. No specimens of floridanus around 15 mm in 
length are at hand. In specimens of this species, about 25 mm long, it is much longer 
than in the other species, being fully equal to the length of the pupil. The greater 
length of the chin barbel is a readily available morphological character at this size, 
as well as among larger fish, for separating floridanus from both regius and chuss. 
Scales are present at a length of 25 mm in all three species, though not shown in 
the accompanying illustration. The series cannot be definitely enumerated, but it is 
evident already that the scales are larger in regius than in the other species. 
