FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
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195 . Mulloides samoensis Gunther. 1 1 Weke; ’ ’ “Wekea’a.” Fig. 105. 
Head 3.5 in length; depth 4; eye 4 in head; snout 2.35; interorbital 3.2; maxillary 3.4, shortest 
distance between maxillary and edge of eye 1.25 or less in eye; D. vii- 9, longest spine 1.5 in head; 
A. 7, longest ray 2.5 in head; pectoral 1.5; ventral 1.6; scales 3-35-6, 37 pores; gillrakers 18+7. 
Body oblong, compressed, deepest through anterior base of spinous dorsal; head moderate, 
compressed, the protile evenly arched from anterior base of spinous dorsal to tip of snout; snout bluntly 
pointed; lower jaw included; mouth small, slightly oblique; tongue short, rounded anteriorly, not 
broad or thick and not free anteriorly; teeth in a villiform band in each jaw, no teeth on vomer or 
palatines; maxillary short, 1.5 in snout, maxillary broad, slipping under a sheath for more than half 
its length; eye moderate, high, slightly posterior, adipose lid somewhat developed; barbels reach- 
ing gill-opening, 1.5 in head; pseudobranchiae well developed; longest gillrakers nearly equal to 
diameter of pupil, finely serrate, the last 5 or 6 on longer limb very blunt and short; spinous dorsal 
high, posterior edge nearly truncate, its base equal to highest spine; origin of spinous dorsal midway 
between tip of snout and origin of anal measured across body; distance between dorsals 1.25 in 
snout or slightly less than base of soft dorsal; dorsal slightly concave; caudal deeply forked; anal 
similar to soft dorsal, inserted slightly behind it; ventrals reaching slightly beyond pectorals, the rays 
equal in length, these slightly less than longest spinous dorsal; lateral line concurrent with dorsal 
outline; scales large, finely ctenoid; entire body and head scaly. 
Color in alcohol, above bluish-olivaceous, the sides becoming yellowish white; borders of the 
scales dusky; under parts white, a yellowish line under eye; preopercular edge yellowish; an obscure 
darkish blotch sometimes present on middle of side under spinous dorsal; fins all pale, colorless. 
Color in life (No. 02987), back greenish olive; middle of side with a broad (one scale) pale yel- 
low band from eye to caudal peduncle, where it gradually fades out; cheek with 2 or 3 faint yellow 
lines; side below yellow band white with 2 very faint yellow lines, belly white; fins all whitish, the 
spinous dorsal yellow on anterior part; soft dorsal and caudal washed with yellow. 
A young example from Hilo had body greenish olive, with a broad golden stripe which is blackish 
in life; a quadrate black spot under first dorsal; lower fins and barbels white like belly; upper fins 
pale olive; no trace of red on body in life. 
This species is very abundant inside the reefs of Oahu, and in bays between the rocky promontories 
about Hilo, being often taken for bait, but it is known only from the Hawaiian Islands and Samoa. 
Our collections contain a fine series of 152 specimens, from 3 to 13 inches long. 
Mulloicles samoensis Gunther, Fiscbe del' Sudsee, III, 57, pi. 43, lig. B, 1874, Apia: Jenkins, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII, 
1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 453 (Honolulu); Snyder, op. cit. (Jan. 19, 1901), 527 (Honolulu). 
