Scales thick and bony, rather large and coarse, slightly ctenoid; covers basal halves of soft dorsal and anal and basal third of caudal;. However, we are completely unable to separate this nominal species from the common Lohotes surinamensis of the western Atlantic. Aprionin^. Dorsal fin continuous; last ray of dorsal and anal more or less filamentous; jaws and front bare. i^. Jaws with well-developed CD teeth; teeth on vomer and palatines.
Skull not hollow; dorsally and anally nude; maxillary scaly; spineless surgery; caudal deep and, in the. 442 PHOCEEDIS'GB OF THE NATIONAL LUUSEUM. caudal dusky; breast and abdominal bleaching; a large brownish spot on the membrane under the preorbital. This species appears to differ from Glaucosoma Jiehraicum Richardson of Australia in that the first soft rays of the back are no longer, and in that there are twelve rows of scales above the lateral line.
Because of the widely separated habitat of the Japanese species, it is likely that the Australian fish are different. The name Eteliscus was given by Jordan and Snyder on the basis of a fin formula (D. XIV, I, 10) which Steindachner mistakenly gave to his Etelis herycoides.
Genus LUTIANUS Bloch
Very numerous species, mainly from the East Indies and West Indies, active predatory fish, highly valued as food. Sides with a large black spot below the first rays of the soft back, most of it above the lateral line; no wide side stripe; young with 3 or 4 black longitudinal stripes. Head in adult with blue squiggly lines; young with dark bars; usually a milky white spot on the lateral line below the first dorsal rays.
Head 2§ in length to base of caudal, 3| in total; depth equal to head; maxillary 2^ in head; longitudinal diameter of eye 4; width of preorbitals 6; muzzle 3; D. Scales ctenoid, present on the basal half of the soft dorsal and anal, and on the outer rays of the caudal almost to the tips. This species, common in the East Indies region, has been sighted twice from southern Japan, although Jordan and Snyder did not catch any specimens.
Sick, 8; scales 53 in lateral line to base of caudal, 70 above, counting transverse rows, 56 counting oblique rows, and 55 to 60 below longitudinal rows, 7 or 8 between. Anal ridges strong, nearly equal in length, 3^ in the head; anal rays 1J times length of dorsal rays. The teeth on the tongue are apparently absent in very young specimens (of the size of the type of L. nisliilcawse), but in somewhat older specimens they are hardly so distinct, as.
The specimens (in Stanford University) identified by Jordan and Evermann from Keerun, Formosa as L.fulvijlamma are undoubtedly. The same applies to those identified by Jordan and Richardson from Takao, Formosa as L.fuscescens, and those identified.
LUTIANUS ERYTHROPTERUS Bloch
Longest anal spine third, contains 2§ in head, but weaker than second; longest anal ray 2 in head. Bases of soft dorsals and anals scaled to a third of their height, on caudal over basal half. The following is the gist of his description of the color in life: "Colour crimson, with orange reflections; a broad blackish band passes from eye to insertion of dorsal.
2J dorsal rays on head; soft dorsal base 4h on body; its border is rounded or slightly pointed; anal spines strong, second longer than. the third, 21 in the head; anal fin angulate; Third longest ray 2 to 3 on head, reaching beyond last vertebra. Scales on the lateral line parallel to it to the fifth spine, then oblique to the end of the soft dorsal. Dorsal smooth and anal stepped in basal thirds, dorsal spinous with a shallow sheath at base and a series. running to the anterior end of each spine to soft dorsal.
JAPANESE LUTIANID^—JORDAN AND THOMPSON. line of back; three pairs of indistinct narrow lines ecfiiidistantly placed between anterior line and base of caudal peduncle, the of. each pair separated by width of pupil, and anterior ones less distinct than posterior, but all dimmed on ventral surface; a diffuse short line at last dorsal rays; on lateral line, below first dorsal rays, a black spot, half eye size, with a narrow milky white spot immediately. diately behind, and a continuation of the black spot posteriorly, the whole covering ten scales of a longitudinal series; ventral black on. distal halves, other fins dusky. Steindachner and Doderlein give the following description of the color of an adult specimen 42 cm. Color of back brownish green, clearer ventrally; head dark violet dorsally, a blue, sinuous stripe below the eye; on scales of the upper part. of body only a few blue spots; below base of first dorsal ray a slender, milky white spot with a pale stripe of light red immediately across the lateral line.
The changes that seem to take place between the young and the adult are disappearance of the transverse stripes, appearance of the. numerous tortuous narrow lines on the cheeks, and some of the spots on the scales above the lateral line, which Steindachner's specimen showed only in a few places, as well as a change in contour of head and depth of opercular notch. This South Sea species is rare in southern Japan. first recorded by Steindachner and Doderlein without definite locality. Scales on body in obUque rows above lateral line, horizontal below, present on basal third of soft dorsals and anals.
Below is a translation of Bleekers description of the colors of life: Body color.
Genus PRISTIPOMOIDES Bleeker
Genus ETELIS Cuvier and Valenciennes
Body elongated, covered with large scales; very large eye; preorbital very narrow; moderate mouth, protruding lower jaw; maxi-lare with scales; canines only in the upper jaw; no teeth on the tongue or pterygoids; gill scissors long and thin. Dorsalfiii deeply incised, rather short, its spines 10 in number, its soft rays not scaly; tail very deeply forked, upper lobe produced in adult; pectoral fin falcate, lower rays not produced; last dorsal and anal rays produced; bare head above; skull with a flat interorbital area, separated from the occipital area by a transverse line, delimiting the median and also lateral ridges; frontals wide anteriorly, not cavernous, just normally punctured; supraorbital margins crenate; periotic region slightly convex and with rounded, unsmoothed bones; prefrontal posteriorly, with funnel-shaped foramina. The relationships of this genus have been repeatedly misunderstood, but, as Gill has shown, it belongs to the Lutianidae and is not particularly related to AntMas, Perca, or Serranus.
Despite the difference in the shape of his back, the relations of Etelis with Afrion are very close. The skulls in the two are almost identical, as already noted by Poey and Gill. The genus probably contains but one species, a brilliant crimson fish, beautiful in form and colour, and widely distributed in the warm seas. ereXcc, Etelis, a name used by Aristotle for some fishes not now.
Caudally very deeply forked, upper lobe longer, almost filiform, its length is 4 times as long as that of the middle rays, or 1| in head. In the young, the tail lobes are almost equal, but later the upper lobe becomes much longer. By comparing the specimens we cannot detect any difference between Etelis oculatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, and Etelis evurus Jordan and Evermann.
The upper caudal lobe is the same in both, as are the size of the scales and the eye. Etelis carbunculus Cuvier en Valenciennes, from the archipelago of the Seychelles, apparently has, according to current descriptions, no feature distinguishing it from E. In the original description and figure given by Cuvier and Valenciennes, golden longitudinal lines are shown, but the specimen was young, 35 centimeters long, and these lines were always there.
If these lines are characteristic of Etelis carbunculus at all ages, the species in the Seychelles may be different, in which case the common species.
Genus APHAREUS Cuvier and Valerciennes
The type is known in Japan as Onbutsu; in the male sense, and Mutsu, the large-eyed hoopoe of Scombrops, which it resembles.
APHAREUS FURCATUS (Lacep6de)
Etelis carbunculus Cuvier and Valenciennes from the Seychelles Archipelago, according to current descriptions, apparently has no characteristic to distinguish it from E. oculatus, except perhaps for color. The original description and figure given by Cuvier and Valenciennes show golden longitudinal stripes, but the specimen was young, 11 inches in length, and these stripes, if ever. existing, may disappear with age. If these stripes are characteristic of Etelis carbunculus at all ages, the Seychelles species may be different, in this case common. the species may stand as Etelis oculatus.
We have seen no Japanese examples of this beautiful fish.. common in rather deep water about Hawaii, as also about Cuba, from which regions we have ample material. The species is known in Japan as Onbutsu; on meaning male, and Mutsu, the wide-eyed Scombrops hoops, which it looks like .. the Cachucho of the Cuban fishermen. Habitat.— East coast of Africa, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, East Indies, north to China, Japan and Hawaii.
Spine weak and flexible, third, fourth and fifth longest, 2f in head; last two-thirds length of fourth; first ray unbranched but articulated, of equal length to last spine; last ray produced, probably 2 or 3 times length of penultimate. Anal spines weak, first very short, second and third sub-equal, 5^ times inside; anal ra3^s equal in length to dorsal rays, last produced in same manner as dorsal; caudal deeply branched. 469 Rows of scales on the body horizontally; equal above and below Rows of scales on body horizontally; equal size above and below.
Naked parts of the head dark brown, darker on the upper edge of the lower jaws and on the underside of the upper jaw. Valenciemies differs from Aphareusfurcatus in having the fourth, fifth and sixth longest dorsal spines, and according to Gtinther" and 471 Red Sea reports yellow spots and lines on the upper surface of the head, and other authors give slightly different color tones for the species, showing that it is variable to some extent.
SUMMARY
