454 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
broad compressed curved spines; interopercle with strong spine; opercle with 2 compressed spines 
on upper margin, 1 on lower margin; spinous dorsal with rounded margin, median spines longest, 
third 3 in head, the 2 dorsals nearly or quite separate; caudal small, rounded, 1.5; base of anal 3.75 in 
body; pectoral 2 in head, lower rays thick, ventrals very small, sp>ine short, strong; body covered with 
minute fleshy pointed papillae directed backward except behind and a little above base of pectoral, 
those on head and in front of spinous dorsal very small and more or less rigid; latei-al line running 
down till below first 2 dorsal rays. 
Color in alcohol brown, lower surface slightly reddish, back dusky; side, back, and top of head 
marked with round red spots, in most of our examples turning to pale brown; fins all more or less 
uniform brownish. Described from an example (No. 573) 1.6 inches long, from Honolulu. 
This interesting little fish is quite abundant at Honolulu and at Waikiki, being found among the 
coral rocks on the reefs. It is of wide distribution among the islands of the tropical Pacific. The 
collection contains 64 specimens 0.6 to 1.75 inches long. 
Micropus maculatus Gray, Zool. Misc., 20, 1831-12, Island of Hao; Gunther, Cat., II, 147, 1860 (Gray’s type); Gunther, Fisjhe 
der Siidsee, III, 86, 1874 (Sandwich Islands). 
• Caracanthus typicus Krnyer, Naturhist. Tijds., I, 1844, 264, 267. 
Caracanthus maculatus, Fowler, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1900, 515, pi. xx, fig. 5 (Honolulu); Jenkins, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., 
XXII, 1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 491 (Honolulu). 
376. Caracanthus unipinna (Gray). 
Head 3 in length; depth 1.85; D. vii, 12; A. ii, 11. 
General form and appearance of the preceding, but the dorsal fins fully united, a slight depression 
at their junction; preopercular spines smaller, the limb more rounded. Color, plain dark brown. 
Found with the preceding, but smaller and more rare, easily distinguished by the united dorsals. 
We have examined specimens from Makemo ( Albatross Coll.), but have none from Honolulu, from 
which place, however, it has been recorded by Gunther. The species called Caracanthus apistus may 
be the same as C. unipinna, but the soft dorsal is figured as much higher than in C. unipinna. 
Micropus unipinna Gray, Zool. Misc., 20, 1831-42, Pacific; Gunther, Cat., II, 147, 1860 (Gray's type); Gunther, Fische der 
Siidsee, III, 86, 1874 (Sandwich Islands; Tahiti; Vavau, Fiji; Pelew Islands, Maduro). 
Amphiprionichthys apistus Bleeker, Nat. Tijds. Ned. Ind., VIII, 170, 1855 Cocos Islands; Gunther, Cat., II, 144, 1860 (Kokos 
Islands); Kner, Sitzb. Ak. Wiss. Wien, 1868. 17, pi. Ill, fig. 8. 
Centropus staurophorus, Kner, Sitzb. Ak. Wiss. Wien, 1860, 3 (Zanzibar). 
Caracanthus apistus, Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. IX, pi. 416 (Soap., pi. Vi), fig. 5, 1877. 
Family LXXXV. SC0RP£NID£. 
Body oblong, more or less compressed, the head large, and with 1 or more pairs of ridges above, 
which usually terminate in spines, sometimes very irregular in form; opercle usually with 2 spinous 
processes, preopercle with 4 or 5; mouth terminal, usually lai’ge, with villiform teeth on jaws and 
vomer, and usually on the palatines; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary broad, without supplemen- 
tal bone, not slipping under preorbital; gill-openings wide, extending forward below; gill- membranes 
separate and free from the isthmus; usually no slit behind the fourth gill; scales ctenoid, or sometimes 
cycloid, usually well developed, sometimes obsolete; lateral line single, continuous, concurrent with 
the back; a narrow bony stay extending backward from the suborbital toward the preopercle; ventral 
fins thoracic, usually of the normal percoid form, i, 2, to i, 5, the rays branched; dorsal fin continu- 
ous, sometimes so deeply notched as to divide it into 2 parts, or even 3 parts, with 8 to 16 rather 
strong spines and about as many soft rays; anal rather short, usually with 3 spines and 5 to 10 soft 
rays; soft rays in all the fins usually branched, except some or all of rays of the pectorals; pyloric 
coeca in moderate or small number (fewer than 12). Pseudobranchise large; air-bladder present or 
absent. Actinosts moderate, inserted on the posterior edges of hypercoracoid and hypocoracoid; ribs 
borne on enlarged pleuraphyses; post-temporal bifurcate, normally connected; myodome more or less 
developed. Genera and species numerous, inhabiting all seas, but especially abundant in the temper- 
ate parts of the Pacific Ocean, where they form a large proportion of the fish fauna. They are nonmi- 
gratorv fishes, living about rocks, most of them of large size, and all used as food. Many of them have 
a venom sac at the base of the dorsal spines, and many of them are viviparous, the young being- 
produced when about one-fourth inch in length. 
