PISCES THORACICI. LABRUS. 
15 
No. CXX. 
Labrus cauda - sub - rotundata; cor pore ovali, picto, linea laterali infracta; dente cnrvo ex 
angulo oris exerto, utrinque. 
The Labrus with a roundish tail; an oval, highly coloured body; the lateral line broken. 
A small curve tooth protruding from the corner of the mouth, on each side. 
Called also by the Natives Sahnee Moia. 
II 
B. v. D. iT. P. 14. V. 6. A. 13. C. 14. 
The body long-oval, compressed, squamous. Scales large, smooth, ciliate, imbricate. 
The head small, sharp, compressed, without scales ; the front depressed, the neck roughish. Mouth middle, 
small, straight. Jaws a little extractile, equal, set with teeth. Lips large, covering the teeth. Teeth large, a 
little curve, close in the upper jaw, but more distant from each other in the lower: in the upper, there is a 
remarkable crooked tooth, projecting in the manner of tusks from the corner of the mouth on each side. 
Tongue short, obtuse, smooth. Palate smooth, the throat rough; the eyes high, small, orbicular; the iris 
orange. Nostrils double, before the superior edge of the orbit. 
The branchial opercula consist of two acuminate lamina;, without scales; the aperture lateral; the membrane 
covered. 
The trunk. The back convex; sides compressed; belly rather plane. Branchiae consist of three simple 
leaves. The lateral line bends gently from the edge of the opercula to the end of the dorsal fin, then declines 
rapidly, and is continued straight along the middle of the tail. The anus middle, depressed. 
The fins. The dorsal solitary, lower in the middle than at either extremity, with a remarkable spot on the 
anterior part; the pectoral acuminate at top; the first ray of the ventral long and setaceous; the anal of the 
form of the hinder part of the dorsal; the caudal fin rounded at the edge. 
The colour. The face sea-green with a few streaks of purple and dusky yellow. The back dark-green, the 
sides variegated with a few purple and orange fillets. The green of the trunk shades off to a dull white on 
the belly. The dorsal fin spotted green and purple, and there is a remarkable black spot with an orange dot, 
on the membrane between the fifth and seventh ray; the root of the pectoral red, the rest light; the ventral 
and anal fins with spots of a lighter green than the dorsal; the rays of the anal purplish, with some streaks of 
orange towards the tail; the caudal fin strewed with green spots with purple borders, the margin yellowish 
green. 
Length, five inches. 
