THE FISHES OF PORTO RlOO. ll*f 
ostegals 7. Gill-membranes separate and free from isthmus. Gills 4, a slit behind fourth. Two 
separate dorsals, somewhat remote from each other, the first of 8 feeble but rather high spines, first 
and last spines very short, third longest; second dorsal equal to first in height but base somewhat 
longer, of soft rays only. Anal fin either similar to or much longer than soft dorsal; caudal fin rather 
long, widely forked. Second dorsal, anal, and caudal fins more or less covered with small scales; first 
three or four dorsal spines winged. Ventrals i, 5, abdominal, but not far removed from pectorals; pectoral 
fins moderate, placed low, in two parts, the lower and anterior portion of several filiform articulated 
appendages, free from each other, used as organs of touch. 
In the young the dorsal, caudal, and pectoral fins are dusky, the anal and ventral fins white; all 
the fins grow darker with age, pectorals usually becoming black, operculum blackish. 
Bones of skull with a well -developed muciferous system, as in Scixnidx. Basis cranii double, 
with muscular tube; post-temporal bifurcate; hypercoracoid with median foramen; superior pharyn- 
geal bones 4. Pectoral actinosts divided; two of them normal, supporting pectoral fin, one longitudinal, 
without rays, and one a plate on the coracoid, supporting the pectoral filaments. Stomach csecal, with 
a few pyloric appendages. Air-bladder various, sometimes wanting. Vertebrae 10 + 14 = 24. 
a. Anal fin much longer than soft dorsal, of about 30 rays; vomer without teeth; preoperculum entire; free filaments 
of pectoral longer than body Polynemus 
aa. Anal fin not much longer than soft dorsal, of about 13 or 14 rays; vomer with teeth; preoperculum serrate; free 
filaments of pectoral mostly shorter than body Polydactylus, 47 
Genus 47. POLYDACTYLUS Lacepede. 
Anal fin not much longer than soft dorsal, of about 13 or 14 rays; vomer with teeth; preoperculum 
serrate; free filaments of pectoral mostly shorter than body. Teeth in villiform bands on both jaws, 
vomer, palatines, and pterygoids. Preopercle sharply serrated on its posterior margin, its angle with 
a scaly flap. Scales rather small, finely ctenoid. First dorsal with 7 or 8 feeble, rather high spines, 
first and last short. Soft dorsal and anal fins about equaling each other; pectoral filaments 3 to 9. 
Pyloric c-Eeca in great numbers. 
This genus is represented by numerous species occurring in the warm seas; but of fourAmerican 
species only one is known from Porto Rico. 
a. Pectoral filaments 7 virginicus, 73 
aa. Pectoral filaments 8 or 9 octonemus 
73. Polydactylus virginicus (Linnaeus). “Barbudo” ; Barbu. 
Head 3.3; depth 3.25; eye 5; snout 4.8; maxillary 2.2; mandible 2; interorbital 4.2; D. viii-i, 12; 
A. in, 13; pectoral 1.25; ventral 2.2; caudal 0.9; scales 7-60-10. 
Body oblong, compressed, covered with large, loose, slightly ctenoid scales; the lateral line 
complete, nearly straight, bifurcating at base of caudal, the branches continued on tail; head completely 
scaled except about eye, which is entirely covered with an adipose eyelid; snout somewhat pig-like, 
overhanging the rather large mouth; maxillary reaching far beyond eye; lower jaw included, villiform 
teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; preopercle toothed; dorsal fins 2, well separated, the anterior 
of weak flexible spines, the first very short, third longest,. 1.5 in head, the rest rapidly diminishing in 
length; pectoral with a large sheath of elongated scales above axil and with 7 long filaments, longer 
than head, inserted considerably in advance of base of pectoral; caudal deeply forked; all the tins 
more or less scaly. 
Color in life : Whitish-olive above, dirty white below ; spinous dorsal dark, soft dorsal and anal pale, 
with dark punctulations; pectoral with irregular black blotches, filaments white; ventrals dark, paler on 
margins. In spirits; Pale below, darker above; pectoral fin black; opercle with a dusty blotch in young. 
The barbudo is an abundant and useful food-fish, found throughout the West Indies and north 
to Florida Keys, but not to Virginia. Twenty-three examples of all sizes up to 11 inches in length 
were collected at San Juan market, Palo Seco, Mayaguez, Puerto Real, Ponce, and Isabel Segunda. 
Piracoaba, Marcgrave, Hist. Nat. Brasil., 176, 1648, Brazil. 
Polynemus virginicus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 317, 1758, America. 
Polynemus mango Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 413, 417, 418, 1803, America; after Linnaeus. 
Polydactylus plumierii Lac£p£de, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 419, 1803, Martinique; from a drawing by Plunder. 
Polynemus americanus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 393, 1829, Santo Domingo and Martinique. 
Polynemus oligodon Gunther, Cat., II, 322, 1860, Rio Janeiro. 
Trichidion plumieri, Poey, Fauna Puerto- Riquena, 334, 1881 ; Stahl, l.c., 78 and 164,1883. 
Polydactylus virginicus , Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 829, 1896. 
