256 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Shore-fishes of the tropical seas, of rather large size, carnivorous or partly herbivorous. The 
family contains about 9 genera and 50 species. They are very rarely used as food, many of them being 
reputed as poisonous. According to Dr. Day: 
“Eating the flesh of these fishes occasions in places symptoms of most virulent poisoning. Dr. 
Mennier, at the Mauritius, considers that the poisonous flesh acts primarily on the nervous tissue of 
the stomach, occasioning violent spasms of that organ and shortly afterwards of all the muscles of the 
body. The frame becomes racked with spasms, the tongue thickened, the eye fixed, the breathing 
laborious, and the patient expires in a paroxysm of extreme suffering.” 
а. Teeth unequal, oblique, each one deeply notched. 
б. Gill-opening with a number of enlarged bony plates or scutes behind it; ventral flap movable, supported by a series 
of spines, more or less free at tip, and resembling fin rays; cheek entirely scaled, without naked grooves or 
patches; eye with a groove before it; scales rather small, 50 to 75. 
c. Dorsal and anal fins falcate in adult; caudal lobes acuminate in adult; lateral line slender, undulate, more or less 
developed; scales of tail and posterior parts unarmed, similar to those on rest of body; ventral flap with slender, 
sharp spines; third dorsal spine little smaller than second and remote from it Balistes, 118 
66. Gill-opening with only ordinary scales behind it; no enlarged plates or scutes; ventral flap scarcely movable, its 
surface scaled; lateral line obsolete; third dorsal spine small or wanting; vertical fins in adult more or less 
angulate or falcate. 
d. Chin not projecting; cheek closely scaled; dorsal spines 3; scales of posterior parts unarmed or keeled. 
Canthidermis 
dd. Chin much projecting; cheek with 3 to 5 narrow parallel grooves; dorsal spines 2; scales of posterior parts more or 
less keeled Xanthichthys 
aa. Teeth even, incisor-like; scales of posterior parts more or less keeled; a groove before eye, enlarged scutes behind 
it; lateral line obsolete; third dorsal spine small or wanting; cheek entirely scaled, but marked by narrow 
grooves; enlarged scales present behind gill-opening; ventral flap scarcely movable, its surface scaled; vertical 
fins more or less angulated Melichthys 
Genus 118. BALISTES (Artedi) Linnaeus. Trigger-fishes. 
Body compressed, covered with thick, rough scales or plates of moderate size, 50 to 75 in a 
lengthwise series; a naked groove before eye below nostrils; lateral line more or less developed, very 
slender, undulate, conspicuous only when scales are dry, extending on cheek. Pelvic flap large, 
movable, supported by a series of slender, pungent spines. Caudal peduncle compressed, its scales 
unarmed, without spines or differentiated tubercles similar to those on rest of body. Gill-opening 
with enlarged bony scutes behind it; cheek entirely scaly, without naked patches or grooves. Both 
jaws with irregular, incisor-like teeth, usually 4 on each side in each jaw. First dorsal of 3 spines, 
anterior of which is much the largest, second acting as a trigger, locking first when erected; third 
nearly as large as second and remote from it; second dorsal and anal long, similar to each other, in 
adult always falcate or filamentous in front; caudal fin rounded, with outer rays much produced in 
adult; branch iostegals 6; vertebrae 7 -j- 10. 
Species rather few, chiefly American; some of them straying to the Old World. 
Capriscus: 
а. Lateral line complete, beginning on lower part of cheek, thence extending upward to behind eye, thence back- 
ward to beyond first dorsal, thence abruptly downward to above anal, then upward and at last horizontally 
backward on caudal peduncle, line everywhere much undulated; lines of the two sides connected by a cross 
line at nape; dorsal fin falcate or filamentous; dorsal rays about in, 27; A. 25. 
б. Scales moderate, about 60 (50 to 65) in a lengthwise series. 
c. Body with few blue spots or none. 
d. Dorsal and anal with oblique dark bands of bluish spots; young clouded, and with vague, dusky blotches at base 
of dorsal; scales about 60 carolinensis 
cc. Body covered with roundish blue-black spots; dorsal and anal similarly spotted forcipcitus 
Balistes: 
aa. Lateral line incomplete, usually developed only on head, nape, and caudal peduncle; 37 scales between origin of 
dorsal and vent vetula, 214 
214. Balistes vetula Linnseus. Old Wife; Old Wench; Cochino; “ Peje Puerco.” 
(Plate 39.) 
Head 3; depth 1.8; D. m, 29; A. 27; scales 63. Median part of lateral line, from base of first 
dorsal to front of caudal peduncle wanting in adult, branch on cheek ceasing opposite gill-opening; cross- 
branch present; ventral flap well developed, with slender, sharp spines. Scales on head much smaller 
and more crowded than those on body; third dorsal spine rather shorter and weaker than second, 
