162 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
116. Dules dispilurus (Gunther). 
Head 2.4; depth 2.75; eye 4.2; snout 4.2; maxillary 2.3; mandible 1.9; interorbital 7; D. x, 12; 
A. in, 7; pectoral 1.35; ventral 1.6; caudal 2; scales 5-44-12. 
Body oblong, of moderate depth, considerably compressed; mouth large, slightly oblique, max- 
illary reaching center of large eye or beyond; teeth in villiform bands in each jaw, in lower becoming 
uniserial posteriorly; a few enlarged teeth in outer row of both jaws; vomer and palatines with 
narrow bands of villiform teeth, some of them enlarged ; jaws subequal; preopercle evenly rounded, 
finely serrate above; opercle with 3 pungent spines, middle one longest; scales rather large, ctenoid; 
caudal lin truncate; second anal spine longest and more or less curved. 
Color in spirits: Brownish, some specimens more olive; 5 or 6 crossbands of darker color on 
body, not very distinct, these extending on dorsal fin, where they are quite black and sharply defined — 
1 on front of spinous dorsal, 1 on last spines, and 1 on first dorsal rays at height of last dorsal spines, 
the bar from this one extending to about lateral line only; another at base of last dorsal rays. Between 
these inky-black blotches are much smaller spots not parts of the body bars; caudal peduncle with 1 
or 2 vertical bars; an oval black spot, smaller than pupil, at base of upper caudal rays, and 1 at 
base of lower, with fainter markings between; caudal and anal mottled, ventrals dark, pectoral pale 
(red in life); many (about 15) longitudinal brownish or olive lines on body, formed of color on upper 
and lower edges of scales, rather wider than interspaces, and giving the fish its general color; a faint, 
wider, dark streak from occiput to upper edge of eye, and 1 from shoulder through eye to tip of snout, 
A creamy quadrate blotch from belly, in front of vent, extending upward about halfway to lateral 
line, its posterior border more sharply defined than anterior. 
A strongly marked species heretofore known only from Trinidad and Jamaica. Five examples, 
one about 1.75 inches, the others 2.75. The smaller one was taken with the tangle, off Point Melones, 
in 7 fathoms; one of the others in the beam trawl, 9 miles from Mayaguez, in 220 fathoms, on rocky 
bottom; the others were seined at Mayaguez. 
Centropristis dispilurus Gunther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1867, 99, Trinidad. 
Dules dispilurus , Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1219, 1896. 
Genus 74. RYPTICTJS Cuvier. The Soap-fishes. 
Body oblong, compressed, covered with very small, smooth, embedded scales. Lateral line 
normal, head scaly. Mouth rather large, oblique, lower jaw the longer; maxillary with a supple- 
mental bone, as in Epinephelus, with which this genus agrees in general osteology; smooth area on top 
of cranium very large, transversely convex, much longer than supraoccipital crest; interorbital area 
very narrow; parietal and supraoccipital bones short, with feeble crests, which do not extend on 
frontals; premaxillaries reaching frontals, which have a fossa in front; teeth all villiform, in bands 
on jaws, vomer, and palatines; preopercle crescent-shaped, without angle or serratures, but provided 
with 2 or 3 spinous hooks on the posterior margin; opercle with 2 or 3 spines; gillrakers short; 
branch iostegals 7. Dorsal fins separate, the first of 2 or 3 (rarely 4) small spines, second of many 
(about 25) soft rays; anal long, rounded, of soft rays only; caudal rounded; pectoral rounded, nearly 
symmetrical, of 17 rays; ventrals small, i, 5, inserted slightly before pectorals, the spine short and 
strong. Vertebrae 10 -)- 14 = 24. Skeleton generally similar to that of Epinephelus. 
Species about 8, all from the seas of tropical America. 
Rypticus: 
a. Dorsal spines 2 or 3 (rarely 4) . 
b. Preopercle with two spines only, lower scarcely the longer. 
c. Opercular spines 3, all well developed. 
d. Color not red, chiefly olivaceous; dorsal fins distinctly connected by membrane. 
e. Eye not longer than snout; pores in lateral line 85 to 90 saponaceus, 117 
ee. Eye longer than snout; pores in lateral line 67; brownish, with blackish spots and dots arcnatus 
cc. Opercular spines 2, small, uppermost the smaller coriaceus, 118 
Promicropterus: 
bb. Preopercle with 3 spines bistrispinus, 119 
