182 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Scales very small, rows above lateral line running upward and backward, rows below rather 
wavy, almost horizontal; temporal region covered with small partially embedded scales, in 4 or 5 
rows; cheek with 7 rows of scales; 4 rows on interopercle, 3 rows on subopercle, and 7 on opercle; 
snout, preorbital, and jaws naked; top of head scaly to near middle of eye; -soft dorsal and anal with 
but few scales at base. Dorsal spines long and slender, fourth spine longest, 2.9 in head, length of 
spines thence gradually decreasing to twelfth spine, which is 3.33 in head; margin of soft dorsal truncate, 
its rays of subequal length, 4.5 in head; last ray slightly shorter; caudal deeply forked, upper lobe 
longer than lower, its length 1.75 times middle rays, which are 2 in head; upper lobe of caudal 1.25 
in head; anal similar to soft dorsal, its rays 3.4 in head; second anal spine shorter than third, 5 in 
head; ventrals 2 in head; pectoral somewhat falcate, reaching opposite vent, 1.4 in head. 
Color in life: Vermilion, paler below; faint brown lines running obliquely forward and downward 
from dorsal along rows of scales; side with narrow sinuous streaks of golden-yellow, some of them 
longitudinal, others oblique; dorsal rosy, its margin chiefly orange; anal pale at base, rosy at extremity; 
pectoral yellowish, ventrals rosy, caudal and iris vermilion; inside of mouth dusky. 
The bright colors grow faint or disappear in spirits. 
Fig. 49 . — -Rhomboplites aurorubens. 
Charleston and Pensacola, south to Brazil; known from Pensacola, the “Snapper Banks,” Cuba, 
Martinique, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Brazil. Only a single specimen, 6 inches long, 
was obtained in Porto Rico. The species reaches a length of a foot and is a good food-fish. 
Centropristis aurorubens Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 45, 1829, Brazil; Martinique; Santo Domingo. 
Mesoprion elegans Poey, Memorias, II, 153, 1860, Cuba. 
Aprion ariommus Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. N. M. 1883, 142, Pensacola; young with pterygoid teeth undeveloped. 
Rhomboplites aurorubens, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1277, 1898. 
Genus 80. ETELIS Cuvier & Valenciennes. 
Body elongate, covered with large scales; eye very large; preorbital very narrow; mouth moderate, 
lower jaw projecting; canines in upper jaw only; no teeth on tongue or pterygoids; gillrakers long and 
slender. Dorsal fin deeply notched, rather short, its spines 10 in number, its soft rays not scaly; 
caudal very deeply forked; head naked above, skull with interorbital area flat, separated from occipital 
area by a transverse line, limiting median and lateral crests also; frontals wide in front, not cavernous, 
simply normally perforate; supraorbital margins crenate; periotic region little convex and with bones 
thick, unpolished; prefrontals behind, with funnel-shaped foramina. 
The relationships of this interesting genus have been repeatedly misunderstood, but it belongs 
in the Lutianidx and it has no special affinity with Anihias, Perea , or Serranus. Its synonymy and 
relations have been well discussed by Dr. Gill. In spite of the difference in form of dorsal, its relations 
with Aprion are very close. The skulls in the two are almost identical, as has been pointed out by 
Gill and by Poey. Two American species are known. 
a. Maxillary scaly; depth 3.5 or more in length oculatus, 135 
aa. Maxillary naked; depth less than 3 in length aquilonaris 
