THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
165 
lower jaw projecting; teeth in a narrow villiform band in each jaw, with a single outer row of enlarged 
conical teeth; preopercle with a few strong spines, those at angle greatly enlarged; soft dorsal and anal 
high, nearly as large as caudal, the 3 fins suggesting a 3-lobed tail, whence the name “triple-tail.” 
Color in life: Body greenish, grayish, and yellowish, more or less mottled; fins mottled-grayish; 
soft dorsal and anal black-edged, caudal with yellowish margin, black inside; ventral pale, with black 
blotches; branchiostegals pale, with irregular black lines; our smaller specimen creamy-yellow, overlaid 
with dark -brown. 
A fish of rather sluggish habits, found in most warm seas; north on our coast to Cape Cod; 
probably not uncommon about Porto Rico; not recorded from Key West, though known from the St. 
Johns and Indian rivers, Pensacola and Tampa. It is said to reach a length of 3 feet and a weight 
of 50 pounds, and is regarded as a very good food-fish. The collection contains two young examples, 
6.5 and 8 inches in length. The smaller was taken by the seine at the mouth of the Rio Bayamon at 
Palo Seco, in water very nearly fresh; the other was seined in San Juan Harbor between Palo Seco 
and Catano. 
Holocentrus surinamensis Bloch, Ichth., pi. 243, 1V90, Surinam. 
Bodianus triurus Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1, 1815, 418, Powles Hook, New Jersey. 
Lobotes crate Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 322, 1830, Pondicherry. 
Lobotes farkharii Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 324, 1830, Malacca; on a drawing by Major Farkhar. 
Lobotes somnolentus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 324, 1830, Santo Domingo. 
Lobotes auctorum Gunther, Cat., 1, 338, 1859, Cuba; Calcutta; China. 
Lobotes surinamensis, Poey, Fauna Puerto-Riq., 329, 1881; Stahl, l.c., 77 and 103,1883; Jordan & Evermann,!. c., 1235, 1896. 
Fig. 47. — Lobotes surinamensis. 
Family XLIII. PRIACANTHID/E. The Catalufas. 
Body oblong or ovate, compressed, covered with small, firm, rough scales; all parts of body and 
head, even the snout and maxillaries, being densely scaly, each scale with a more or less developed 
plate on its posterior border, most developed in the young. Head deep. Mouth large, very oblique, 
lower jaw prominent. Villiform teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines, none on tongue. Premax- 
illaries protractile. Maxillary broad, without supplemental bone, not slipping under the very narrow 
preorbital, which is usually serrate; no suborbital stay Eye very large, forming about one-half length 
of side of head. Posterior nostril long, slit-like, close to eye. Preopercle more or less serrated, 
one or more strong spines at its angle; operculum very short, ending in two or three points behind; 
no barbels. Gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus. Pseudobranchise very large, extending 
along whole length of opercle. Postorbital part of head very short, opercle small. Gills 4, a slit 
behind the fourth. Gillrakers long. Branchiostegals 6. Lateral line continuous, not extending on 
