824 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
most intense part of blotch, giving it an ocellated effect. Small ocelli, similar in character, scattered 
over body; fins all spotted and marked with black. 
4. A specimen, 109 mm. total length, presents similar color pattern to the preceding, but of lighter 
shade. Head 3.8; depth 1.8; eye 4.16; snout 3.8; maxillary 2.7; D. 91; A. 70; scales (pores) 90; cirri 
present on eye membranes. 
5. A specimen, 42 mm. long, possesses about the same general color arrangement as larger speci- 
mens, but lacks the blue spots. Head 3.33; depth 1.8; D. 94; A. 72; pores 87. Ocular cirri large. 
6. Another young individual from Ponce, 45 mm. in total length, is very brightly and distinctly 
marked in the same general way as the others mentioned, but lacks the blue spots. Ocular cirri large. 
Head 3.33; depth 1.33; D. 94; A. 69; pores 82. 
7. A youilg example from San Antonio Bridge, 50 mm. long, presents the same general appearance 
as the other young ones, but has longer ocular cirri. Head 3.5; depth 1.75; eye 4.8; snout 4; maxillary 3; 
pectoral 1.5; D. 96; A. 73; pores 83. 
Life color: Pale-sandy, with numerous small ocellated brown spots with pale centers; a large black 
blotch on lateral line at posterior third of body; fins with numerous small white spots and a few larger 
irregular brown ones. 
An inhabitant of the West Indies, north to Florida; common; recorded from Havana, Cienfuegos, 
Jamaica, Bahamas, Sombrero, St. Thomas, and from Green Turtle Key. Specimens at hand from 
Culebra, Aguadilla, San Antonio Bridge, San Juan, and Ponce, Porto Rico. 
Solea lunata et punctata (the Sole), Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, tab. 27, 1725, Bahamas. 
Pleuroncctes lunatus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 269, 1758, Bahamas; based on Catesby. 
Pleuroncctes argus Bloch, Ichth., tab. 48, 1783, Martinique; after Plumier. 
? Pleuronectes surinamensis Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ic.hth., 156, 1801, Surinam. 
Pleuroncctes maculiferus Poey, Memorias, II, 316, 1860, Cienfuegos, Cuba. 
Pleuronectes elliplicus Poey, Memorias, II, 315, 1860, Cuba. 
Platoplmjs lunatus, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 2665, 1898. 
Platophnjs maculifer, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 2664, 1898. 
Platophrys ettipticus, Jordan & Evermann, 1. e., 2665, 1898. 
Genus 156. SYACIUM Kanzani. 
Body elliptic-ovate, much compressed; interorbital space broad in males and more or less concave, 
narrowed in female; mouth moderate, gape curved; teeth in upper jaw biserial, in lower uniserial; 
front teeth of upper jaw enlarged; vomer toothless; scales rather large, ciliate; lateral line without 
arch in front; pectoral fins present on both sides; septum -of gill-cavity below gill-arches without 
foramen; a deep emargination near isthmus; gillrakers short and thick; dorsal low, its anterior rays 
not elevated; pectorals both present; caudal subsessile; no anal spine; pectorals produced in males; 
ventral fins short, that of colored side on ridge of abdomen. 
This genus contains a considerable number of species, mostly American and African, which form 
a transition from Platophrys to Citharichthys. They fall readily into 2 groups distinguished by width 
of interorbital space. As this width is dependent on age, and as it is subject to various intergradations, 
the group Aramaca founded on it can not be admitted as a distinct genus. 
a. Snout and orbits without spines or spinous processes. 
b. Scales rather large, 50 to 57 in lateral line; interorbital space broad. 'Color, nearly plain brown, with darker dots 
or mottlings, no ring-like spots or ocelli; fins mottled; left pectoral barred; blind side sometimes wholly or 
partly dusky, especially in northern specimens psetulum 
bb. Scales rather small, 58 to 70 in lateral line rnicrurum, 276 
276. Syacium micrurum Ranzani. 
Head 3.8 in length; depth 2.4; D. 87 to 92; A. 54 to 68; scales 65 to 70 (pores); eye 4 in head; 
maxillary 2.5 to 3. Form regularly elliptical, profile evenly convex to end of snout; eyes large, nearly 
even in front, male with interorbital space deeply concave, its width two-thirds vertical depth of eye 
(or more in Brazilian specimens) ; female with interorbital area much narrower, with a more or less 
perfect median groove, its width about equal to depth of pupil; mouth small, maxillary reaching to 
below middle of eye; teeth small, slender, in 2 rows above, in 1 row below, outer series in upper jaw 
somewhat enlarged, but hardly canine-like; gillrakers very short and thick, about 1 + 7 in number; 
scales small, firm, moderately ctenoid; pectoral 1.33 in head in female, reaching nearly to base of caudal 
in male; vertebrae 9 + 24 = 33. 
