FISHES— POMACENTRIDAE—GLYPHISODON RUBICUNDUS. 
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The Atlantic coast of the United States is wanting in species of this genus, seemingly created 
/or a warm clime, for two of them are met with in the Caribbean Sea, commonly known as the 
Gulf of Mexico. Along the Pacific coast they appear, likewise, to be limited to a rather 
southern latitude. 
GLYPHISODON RUBICUNDUS, Grd. 
Plate XXIV. 
Spec. Char. —Body very deep and sub-elliptical in profile. Head moderate; mouth and eye small. Opercular scales very large. 
Spinous portion of dorsal fin very low ; soft portion of dorsal and anal sub-lanceolated. Posterior margin of caudal deeply 
emarginated, the lobes being rounded off. Tips of ventrals reaching the vent. Lateral line ending under the soft portion of 
the dorsal fin. Color uniform deep crimson. 
Stn. —Glyphisodon rubicundus, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad, VII. 1854, 148. 
The body, which is very much compressed, has a very short and contracted appearance, and 
so has the head, which is of but moderate development. Its greatest depth, measured upon a 
vertical line intersecting the ventral fins, is a little more than the half of the length, the caudal 
fin excluded. The anterior dorsal region is convex and the profile of the head very declivous, 
with two depressions, one upon the occiput, the other upon the snout, and in all probabilities 
more conspicuous in grown specimens than in those of immature growth. The head itself 
forms about the fourth of the total length, the largest specimen before us measuring nine inches 
and a half from the snout to the extremity of the caudal fin. The mouth is small; the 
posterior extremity of the maxillary corresponding to a vertical line drawn considerably in 
advance of the orbit. The lips are quite fleshy and free all around upon their external margin. 
The eye is situated high up, is small and circular, and its diameter contained five times in the 
length of the side of the head. The branchial apertures are continuous under the throat, 
although the fissure does not extend forwards under the hyoid apparatus. The branchial rays 
are three on either side, all well developed. 
A vertical line drawn from the origin of the dorsal fin would intersect the base of the pectorals 
or even pass in front of the latter. The spinous portion of that fin is quite low and its upper 
outline almost straight; the soft portion rises into an acute triangle, the summit of which being 
directed upwards and backwards. The anal has the same general shape as the soft dorsal, its 
summit, however, diverging a good deal less from the horizontal line of the body, thus approxi¬ 
mating more the caudal fin. The peduncle of the tail is well defined. The caudal is very 
large, deeply emarginated, but the lobes are uniformly rounded and broad. The ventrals are 
well developed, broad, and elongated, their tips reaching the vent, which is situated a little in 
advance of the anterior margin of the anal. The pectorals are very broad, rounded upon their 
posterior margin, their extremities not extending as far posteriorly as the tips of the ventrals. 
Br. Ill: III ; D XII, 16 ; A II, 15 ; C 3, 1, 7, 6, 1, 2; Y I, 5 ; P 19. 
The scales are very large, especially upon the middle of the flanks and upon the opercle. 
Twenty longitudinal series of them may be counted between the dorsal region, in advance of 
the dorsal fin, and the abdominal line. They are deeper than long, pectinated posteriorly, and 
provided upon their anterior section with radiating furrows. Smaller and irregularly disposed 
scales maybe observed along the bases of all the fins, except the ventral, between which, 
interiorly, a lanceolated blade of scales projects. The frontal, post, and sub-ocular scales arc 
21 a 
