Pinguipes Chilensis, _Cuv. et Val._ Hist. des Poiss. tom. ix. p. 338.
FORM.—More slender and elongated than the last species. Depth nearly
six and a half times in the entire length. Head four times and a
quarter in the same. Eyes high, a little before the middle, or with
the distance in front to the end of the snout not equalling that
behind measured to the posterior part of the opercle; their diameter
nearly six times in the length of the head; the interval between
them nearly two diameters. When the mouth is closed, a vertical from
the posterior part of the maxillary forms a tangent to the anterior
part of the orbit. Lips not so thick and fleshy as in the _P.
fasciatus_; but the teeth almost exactly similar. Tongue much
larger, occupying nearly the entire platform of the mouth. Branchial
membrane much more deeply notched, the notch reaching as far as the
anterior extremity of the interopercle. Preopercle with the
ascending margin nearly vertical. Opercle with two small flat
spines, the lower one rather more developed then the upper. Scales
and lateral line as in the _P. fasciatus_. Pectorals similar.
Ventrals attached entirely in front of the pectorals, though not
much in advance; fleshy, but perhaps rather less so than in the _P.
fasciatus_: in neither species do they pass beyond the pectorals, or
indeed reach quite so far. The other fins exactly similar. The
dorsal, however, has one spine less, and one soft ray more. The
anal, also, has one soft ray more.
B. 6; D. 6/28; A. 1/25; C. 17, &c.; P. 19; V. 1/5.
Length 11 inches.
COLOUR.—(_In spirits._) Back and sides deep brown, with the exception
of two rows of pale spots along the sides, very faint and
ill-defined. Underneath altogether paler. The dorsal and anal appear
to have been bluish, with the basal portion of each fin pale, but
without any edging of white above. Inside of the ventrals blue;
pectorals the same, but paler. The caudal shows some trace of a dark
round spot on the base of the upper lobe. Mr. Darwin’s notes, with
respect to the colour in the living fish, only state “fins dark.”
Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile.
This species, which was procured by Mr. Darwin at Valparaiso, is
probably the same as the _P. Chilensis_ of Valenciennes, obtained by M.
Gay on the same coast. But the description in the “Histoire des
Poissons” is brief, and notices very little besides the colours, which
accord tolerably well. Mention, however, is made of a second spine in
the anal fin, which certainly does not exist in the above specimen,
though a very careful examination was made in search of it. There is
also one soft ray more in this fin, as well as in the dorsal, in the
fin-ray formula in that work.
This species is very distinct from the _P. fasciatus_ last described,
and does not show so strong a resemblance to the _Labridæ_; but it
approaches very closely the _P. Brasilianus_.