242 
SHOUT SEA liREAM. 
and in the cheeks for the most part resembling the Common 
Sea Bream; hut slightly differing in the markings of the head. 
The body thick and plump; scales on the cheeks and body 
large; those on the hinder part of the body, especially above 
the lateral line, having •well-marked festooned edges; those of 
the anterior part less regularly so. Lateral line at first mounting, 
arched, sinking opposite the ending of the dorsal and anal fins, 
waved in its course, and mounting again as it approaches the 
caudal fin: at its origin a large black spot. Pectoral fin very 
long, reaching to within a short distance of the termination of 
the anal fin; being in length four inches and three fourths, and 
passing two inches beyond the vent. Commencement of the 
dorsal fin just above the origin of the rays of the pectoral. 
Tail concave. The colour was much as in the Common Sea 
Bream, but more vivid; top of the head rich brown, the back 
scarlet, lighter on the side; belly white, with slight mottlings. 
Dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins, and the inside of the mouth, 
vermilion; ventral and anal fins paler. 
Compared with the Common Sea Bream, laid by its side, 
besides the remarkable difierence of the dimensions, it was 
distinguished by a wider gape; by the teeth, although alike in 
arrangement and structm-e, less tliickly placed, especially the 
incisors; by a less rounded muzzle, a much larger eye, and 
longer pectoral fins; which being more arched, are differently 
shaped. In a Common Bream of the same length these fins 
measured three inches and three fourths. The scales also were 
more decidedly waved at their edge. In the stomach I found 
a Comatula and the bait with which it was taken, which was 
a slice of fish; but in the lower intestine were pieces of brown 
sea-weeds covered with Flustrca, (encrusting corals,) still 
continuing imdigested. 
Fin rays — pectoral fifteen, dorsal twelve and twelve, ventral 
one and five, anal three and thirteen, caudal about twenty 
Scales of the Short Sea Bream. 
