THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
179 
Color in life: Rose-colored, silvery-tinged below, slightly olivaceous but not dark above; a large, 
round, maroon blotch, larger than eye, just above lateral line and below front of soft dorsal, always 
present; series of stripes of deep golden-yellow along sides; 3 on head, upper from snout through eye; 
about 10 on body, lower nearly straight and horizontal, upper undulating and irregular, extending 
upward and backward; belly white, its sides largely yellowish; lips red; maxillary partly yellow; 
tongue yellowish; iris fiery red; caudal deep blood-red; spinous dorsal nearly transparent, with a 
marginal and basal band of golden; soft dorsal light-red, edged with golden; ventrals and anal golden; 
pectoral pinkish. Young quite green above. Similarly striped Cuban specimens are generally duller, 
with yellow stripes decidedly coppery. In spirits, the bright colors fade, only the lateral blotch and 
the streaks on the head being persistent. 
Two specimens, each 8 inches long, from the market at San Juan showed the following colors: 
Bluish-olive on back, becoming paler on side; belly white; narrow irregular bars on back running 
upward and backward; side with about 7 broad orange or brassy lines, 1 above lateral line, next 2 
running into it, others wholly below it; a large round black blotch, as large as eye, between lateral 
line and front of soft dorsal; dorsal edged with red; caudal reddish. Another specimen, 9 inches long, 
from San Antonio Bridge was, in life, rich-rosy, with 8 or 9 narrow orange or brassy hues on side, 4 
or 5 of which extend on head, fourth from below uniting with fifth just behind opercular flap; dorsal 
pale-rosy, margined with lemon; caudal rosy, with a narrow black border; anal white on last rays, 
lemon anteriorly; pectoral very pale-rosy; ventrals pale-lemon; lips somewhat rosy. 
The lane snapper is found from southern Florida southward to Colon and Brazil, and is usually 
abundant throughout its range. On the east coast of Florida it is known from Indian River and 
Biscayne Bay, and on the west coast from Pensacola southward. It is abundant among the Florida 
Keys, and is known from the Bahamas, Cuba, Maidinique, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, and Porto Rico. 
Wherever known it is a food-fish of importance. Its maximum weight is about 4 pounds, though the 
average of those brought to the Key West market is not over half a pound. The largest seen in Porto 
Rico was 14 inches long and weighed about 2 pounds. Next to Neomxnis apodus, it is the most 
abundant snapper in Porto Rico, and was obtained in the markets of San Juan, Mayaguez, and Ponce, 
our collections containing specimens from the following localities: San Juan, Mayaguez, Puerto Real, 
Ensenada del Boqueron, Fish Hawk station 6070 in Mayaguez Harbor in 220 fathoms, Ponce, Arroyo, 
Hucares, Isabel Segunda, and Culebra. 
Salpa purpurescens variegata (Lane Snapper) Catesby, Hist. Nat. Carolina, pi. 17, 1743, Bahamas. 
Sparus synagris Linnseus, Syst. Nat., X, 280, 1758, Bahamas: after Catesby. 
Sparus vermicularis Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Iehth., 275, 1801, Martinique; on a drawing by Plumier. 
Lutjanus aubrieti Desmarest, Prem. Dec. Ichth., 17, pi. 2, 1823, Cuba. 
Mesoprion uninotatus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., II, 449, 1828, Santo Domingo; Martinique. 
Neomxnis synagris, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1270, 1898. 
132. Neomaenis mahogoni (Cuvier & Valenciennes) . “Ojanco”; Mahogany Snapper. 
Head 2.5; depth 3; eye 3.75; snout 2.8; maxillary 2.3; mandible 1.9; interorbital 6; preorbital 
6.5; D. x, 12; A. in, 8; scales 8-63-14, about 50 pores. Body elongate, strongly compressed, back some- 
what elevated, profile almost straight or slightly concave from tip of snout to nape, thence gently 
convex; snout rather slender and pointed; eye large; interorbital space somewhat convex; mouth large, 
maxillary reaching front of pupil; lower jaw strongly projecting; upper jaw with a narrow band of 
villiform teeth, outside of Which is a single series of enlarged but comparatively small teeth; 6 canines 
on front of upper jaw, 2 of them small; lower jaw with a single series of rather uniform small teeth, 
none of them canine-like; tongue with an oblanceolate patch of teeth, tapering behind, its length more 
than twice its width; vomer with a broad, arrow-shaped patch of teeth, with backward prolongation 
on median line. Gillrakers moderate, about 10 developed on lower limb of arch, and 3 or 4 rudimen- 
tary ones; preopercle with its posterior margin almost vertical, broadly and rather deeply emarginate, 
very weakly or scarcely serrate above, angle projecting backward and armed with several rather coarse 
teeth, lower limb smooth. Scales rather small, those below lateral line somewhat larger, rows above 
lateral line running obliquely upward and backward, those below in almost straight horizontal series; 
cheek with 6 rows of scales, 1 row on interopercle, 1 on subopercle, and 7 on opercle; temporal region 
with a band of small scales, before and behind which is a series of larger ones; top of head, snout, and 
jaws naked; bases of soft dorsal and anal scaly. Dorsal spines rather weak and slender, outline of fin 
rather strongly convex, fourth spine longest, 2.57 in head; tenth spine 4 in head; margin of soft dorsal 
