FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
243 
at base; caudal fin usually more or less concave behind; air-bladder present, usually simple; pyloric 
cceca few; vertebrae usually 10+ 14=24; intestinal canal short. 
Carnivorous shore-fishes of the tropical seas, especially abundant in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, 
and West Indies. Genera about 12, species about 90, most of them much valued as food. 
Only one species thus far known from the Hawaiian Islands. 
Genus 135. MONOTAXIS Bennett. 
Jaws each with several conical, canine-like teeth in front, and with a single series of molars on 
the sides; cheek scaly; dorsal fin with 10 spines, depressible in a groove; anal spines 3; scales 
moderate; branchiostegals 6; pyloric appendages few. Species few. 
Monotaxis Bennett, Life of Raffles, 688, 1830 (indica). 
Sphxrodon Ruppeil, Neue Wirbeltbiere, Fische, 112, 1838 ( grandoculis ). 
186. Monotaxis grandoculis (Forskal). “Mu;” “ Mamamu.” Fig. 101. 
Head 3.1 in length; depth 2.5; eye 4 in head; snout 2.2; preorbital 3.1; interorbital 2.75; 1>. x, 11; 
A. in, 10; scales 6-46-12. 
Body oblong, deep, compressed, back not much elevated; jirofile from nape to tip of snout nearly 
straight, being steeper from the prominence in front of eye to tip of snout; head slightly deeper than 
Fig. 101 . — Monotaxis grandoculis (Forskal); after Bleeker. 
long, compressed; snout bluntly rounded; mouth large, horizontal; jaws equal, maxillary entirely 
concealed except for its lower edge; teeth large, wide, and irregularly set, conic teeth in anterior part 
of each jaw, lateral teeth on each jaw large and molar; preorbital very broad; preopercle entire; eye 
anterior, high, upper edge of pupil on line with lateral line; dorsal tin continuous, its origin slightly 
in advance of pectoral, its distance from tip of snout equal to its distance from base of ventrals, longest 
spine 2.1 in head, first spine short and weak, .6 height of second; soft dorsal rounded, rays much longer 
than spines, longest 1.75 in head; anal similar to soft dorsal, longest spine2.5 in head, ray 1.75; caudal 
broad and strong, rather deeply forked, its lobes short and strong; pectoral broadly falcate, its tip 
reaching as far as those of ventrals, nearly 1 in head; ventrals falcate, reaching past vent, nearly to 
base of anal, 1.2 in head; scales rather large, much deeper than long, cycloid; top of head, snout, 
mandible and cheek naked; 3 rows of large scales on upper and 6 on lower part of preopercle, 6 rows 
on opercle; soft dorsal and anal moderately sheathed; a single row of small scales on each caudal ray, 
extending nearly to tip; lateral line concurrent with dorsal outline. 
