Trigla kumu, _Less. et Garn._ Zoologie de la Coquille, (Poissons) Pl.
19.
———— _Cuv. et Val._ Hist. des Poiss. tom. iv. p. 36.
FORM.—In general appearance very much resembling the _T. Hirundo_, but
more elongated. Depth contained about five times and a half in the
entire length. Head rather more than four times and a quarter in the
same. The obliquity of the profile about the same as that of the _T.
Hirundo_, but the concavity of the interocular space less. The
granulations on the head not so coarse, or so strongly marked, the
lines in which they are arranged being closer and more numerous:
those on the suborbitals radiate from a point nearer the extremity
of the snout: no crest or ridge at the bottom of the suborbital, and
only a very indistinct one at the bottom of the preopercle: as
Cuvier has well noted, the grains on the border of the preopercle
are divided into little isles, or collected in clusters, by
irregular lines which undulate amongst them; and in this specimen,
the same character presents itself on the posterior and upper
portion of the suborbital: some of the first lines on the opercle
are plain, or without granulations. Snout emarginated, with three or
four denticulations on each side rather sharper and more developed
than in the _T. Hirundo_. Two spines at the anterior angle of the
eye; but none at the posterior angle, or on the temples.
Suprascapular, opercular, and clavicular spines much as in the _T.
Hirundo_. Lateral line and whole body smooth, excepting the dorsal
ridges, which are strongly serrated. Dorsal spines as in the _T.
Hirundo_; second longest; the first with a series of obsolete
granulations on its anterior edge. Pectorals not quite one-third of
the entire length: free rays incrassated in the middle, tapering
towards the ends, but with the extreme tips slightly dilated.
D. 10—16; A. 16; C. 11, &c.; P. 11, and 3 free; V. 1/5.
Length 16 inches 6 lines.
COLOUR.—“Whole body bright red.”—D. The pectorals, of which no note
was taken in the recent state, appear, in the dried skin,
externally, of a dusky colour, approaching to black, with white
rays; the lower margin, however, is paler, and was probably
originally red like the body: inside, the colour is much the same,
but variegated with a few white spots; there are also portions of a
paler tint, probably the remains of a fine blue. I see no distinct
trace of the large deep black spot, said by Cuvier to occupy the
seventh and eighth rays on the posterior face of the fin.
Taken in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. The only respect in which it
differs from the description of the _T. kumu_ by Cuvier and
Valenciennes, is its having one more spine in the first dorsal.