Upeneus flavolineatus, _Cuv. et Val._ Hist. des Poiss. tom. iii. p.
336.
FORM.—Considerably elongated. Greatest depth contained five times in
the entire length, caudal excluded. Head three and a half times in
the same. Dorsal line nearly straight. Profile very convex. Crown
between the eyes broad and somewhat depressed, forming a slight
hollow. Eyes large; their diameter more than one-fourth that of the
head. Suborbitals marked on their surface near the lower margin with
six or eight diverging salient lines, each terminating at bottom in
a mucous pore. Teeth forming a narrow velutine band, hardly visible
to the naked eye, but sensible to the touch: none on the vomer or
palatines. Opercle with one short flat spine projecting beyond the
posterior margin rather more than half a line. Barbules reaching to
a little beyond the angle of the preopercle. Mucous tubes of the
lateral line with five or six branches; the branches not always
simple,[10] but consisting sometimes of two or three main ones which
are subdivided. First dorsal of a triangular form, with the spines
rather slender; the first two equalling more than three-fourths of
the depth of the body. Space between the dorsals about equalling the
length of the first. Second dorsal with the first ray (or spine)
scarcely more than half the length of the second, which is longest;
the third and succeeding rays gradually decreasing to the last,
which is shortest. Length of the second dorsal just equalling its
greatest height. Anal answering to this last fin. Caudal deeply
forked; the central rays not being one-fourth the length of the
outermost ones. Ventrals and pectorals exactly of the same length;
both reaching to a vertical line from the extremity of the first
dorsal. Vent in a line with the commencement of the second dorsal.
D. 7–1/8; A. 1/6; C. 15, &c.; P. 16; V. 1/5.
Length 6 inches 9 lines.
COLOUR.—“Dull silvery, with a yellow stripe on the side.”—D.
There can be but little doubt of this species being the _U.
flavolineatus_, which appears to have a wide range over the Indian
Ocean, and also to occur in the South Pacific. Mr. Darwin’s specimen was
taken at the Keeling Islands.