THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
143 
cl. Soft dorsal with a round black blotch below it and a similar one on caudal peduncle above; scales 26... maculatus 
clcl. Soft dorsal and caudal peduncle without round black spots. 
e. Body with few black specks or none; a blackish bar between last rays of soft dorsal and anal; another on caudal 
peduncle binolatus 
ee. Body covered everywhere with blackish dots, like fly-specks; no other distinct markings; scales 25.. pigmentarius 
aaa. A broad saddle-like dark blotch on caudal peduncle; scales 2V scllicaucla , 100 
v 
100. Apog'on sellicauda Evermann & Marsh, new species. 
Head 2.6; depth 3; eye 2.7; snout4.75; maxillary 2; mandible 2.2; interorbital 4; D. vi-i, 9; A. n, 
7; scales 2-27-10. Body rather short; head large; caudal peduncle long, deep, and compressed; mouth 
large, little oblique, maxillary reaching past pupil; eye very large; preopercle finely serrate; scales large, 
.finely ctenoid; lateral line complete, following curve of back. Fins moderate; second and third dorsal 
spines longest; first anal spine very short, second about equal to eye; pectoral long, 1.65 in head. 
Color in life: Rich scarlet, nearly uniform; a jet-black spot as large as pupil on opercle and 
another of same size on side between lateral line and base of soft dorsal; a dark blotch from opercular 
spot to eye, beneath which are a few brownish specks; axil of pectoral somewhat dusky; top of head 
and snout with small black specks; caudal peduncle with abroad saddle-like dusky area close to base 
of caudal fin; a few small dark specks on dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. 
In alcohol, the color fades to pale yellowish- white, the black spots and specks persisting. 
Fig. 40 . — Apogon sellicauda. 
This interesting species is evidently close to A. maculatus , but differs in its much larger eye and 
in coloration. In four specimens of A. maculatus examined the eye was 3.25, 3.3, 3.5, and 3.5 in head, 
respectively. A specimen of the same size as the type of the present species has the eye 3.5 as against 
2.7 in said type. The coloration is also very different. In A. maculatus there is a definite lateral 
black spot about the size of the pupil on the upper posterior part of the caudal peduncle; the opercle 
and postocular region in some specimens have a few minute dark specks sometimes forming an obscure 
opercular blotch; and the tips of the anterior dorsal and anal rays and the outer caudal rays are quite 
black. In A. sellicauda, instead of the definite black spot on the caudal peduncle, there is a broad 
dark saddle-like area completely surrounding the peduncle except, possibly, at the under edge; there 
is a definite black spot nearly as large as that under soft dorsal, on the middle part of the opercle, and 
from this a broad dark band runs forward to the eye. The tips of the caudal lobes and of the anal and 
soft dorsal are broken in the type, but they do not seem to have been black, as in A. maculatus. 
This species is based upon a single specimen, 1.63 inches long, obtained February 11, 1899, on a 
coral reef at Culebra Island. Type No. 49529 U. S.,N. M. (sella, saddle; cauda, tail.) 
