164 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
one largest; opercle ending in along flap; scales very minute, cycloid; entire head scaled; lateral line 
complete, arched above pectoral; dorsal fin continuous, spinous portion continuous with soft rays; 
second dorsal spine longer than first, about equal to diameter of orbit; last dorsal rays longest, about 
2.5 in head; anal resembling last portion of dorsal, its longest ray 2.5 in head; pectoral broad and 
rounded, its length 1.9 in head; ventrals short, scarcely greater than orbit; caudal rounded. 
Color in alcohol: Rich brownish or olivaceous above, paler below; upper half of head to level 
of lower part of eye dark-brown; lower half of head -pale-yellowish, usually with scattered minute 
brown specks; tip of lower jaw brown; pale median line from tip of snout to nuchal region, growing less 
distinct posteriorly; whole body, and usually most of head, covered profusely with small rich brown 
spots, largest above pectoral ; under jaw, throat, and breast often immaculate; fins usually unspotted. 
South Atlantic coast of the United States and West Indies, usually in rather deep water; known 
from off Charleston, the Bahamas, Key West, Pensacola, Cuba, and Porto Rico, and occasionally taken 
off Newport, Rhode Island. Nineteen specimens obtained by the Porto Rico expedition from the 
vicinity of Culebra Island, some dredged in 12 to 15 fathoms, others found in shallow water about the 
coral reefs; length about 3 inches. These specimens agree fully with Mitchill’s original description of 
this species and with the type of R. pituitosus Goode & Bean. 
Bodianus bistrispinus Mitchill, Amer. Month. Mag. and Crit. Rev., II, Feb., 1818, 247, deep water in Bahama Straits. 
Rhypticus maculatus Ho]brook, Ichth. S. Carolina., ed. 1, 39, 1856, and ed. 2, 42, 1860, Cape Romain, South Carolina. 
Rhypticus pituitosus Goode & Bean, Proe. U. S. N. M. 1879, 341, Key West, Florida. 
Rypticus bistrispinus, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1233, 1896 
Family XLI I. L0B0TID/E. The Triple-tails. 
This family is thus defined by Dr. Gill : 
“Percoidea with an oblong, compressed body, equally developed above and below; a short snout 
and anterior eyes; edentulous palate; dorsal and anal with the soft portions equal and opposite, the 
former preceded by a much larger spinous portion, the latter with 3 spines; vertebrae 24, 12 abdom- 
inal and 12 caudal, the fifth to eleventh with short but gradually lengthening parapophyses projecting 
sideways and behind downward, and the twelfth with the parapophyses elongated, converging at 
their extremities and fitting into a groove of the first haemal spine, the costiferous pits excavated 
obliquely in the developed parapophyses, and gradually ascending forward on the vertebrae, and finally 
on the neurapophyses; the skull with its frontal portion broad, expanded forward and outward, and 
entering into the posterior borders of the orbits, which are advanced far forward; the postfrontals 
elongated forward and underlying the frontals; ethmoid short, decurved, and expanded sideways.” 
This family contains a single species, a large fish closely allied to the Serranidx, but lacking 
vomerine and palatine teeth, and with the fore part of the head very short. Its relations are decidedly 
with the Serranidx and not with the Hxmulidx, with which group, however, it agrees in the absence of 
teeth on the palate. 
Genus 75. LOBOTES Cuvier. 
Body oblong, compressed, and elevated, covered with moderate-sized, weakly ctenoid scales; 
profile of head concave, snout prominent; mouth moderate, oblique, with thick lips; upper jaw very 
protractile, the lower longer; maxillary without supplemental bone; jaws with narrow bands of villi- 
form teeth, in front of which is a row of larger conical teeth directed backward; no teeth on vomer or 
palatines; preorbital narrower than eye; preopercle strongly serrate. Branchiostegals 6. Dorsal fin 
continuous, with 12 spines, which may be depressed into a shallow groove; soft rays of dorsal and anal 
fins elevated; anal spines graduated; bases of soft dorsal and anal thickened and scaly; caudal rounded. 
Air-bladder present. Pyloric caeca 3. 
120. Lobotes surinamensis (Bloch). “ Sama” ; Flasher; Triple-tail; Dorrneur. 
Head 2.8; depth 2; eye 6.5; snout 4.1; maxillary 2.8; mandible 1.9; interorbital 3.5; D. xi, i, 
15; A. hi, 11; pectoral 1.7; ventral 1.4; caudal 1.4; scales 5-48-15. 
Resembling the serranoid genus Alphestes in form, but without teeth on vomer or palatines; scales 
large, firm, and ctenoid; anterior profile with a strong concavity at occiput; eye small; mouth small, 
