PLATE XVIII. Fig. 1.
_C. fuscus, nigro-maculatus: tentaculis palpebralibus e crinibus octo
a radicibus separatis formatis, nasalibus et nuchalibus palmatis,
omnibus parvis subæqualibus: pinna anali radiis mollibus viginti
quatuor._
B. 6; D. 26/11; A. 2/24; C. 13; P. 13; V. 3.
LONG. unc. 6. lin. 6.
FORM.—Depth one-fifth of the entire length. Head about one-fourth of
the same, rather large, with the cheeks and gills a little inflated.
Profile falling gently from the nape: the crown scarcely at all
convex. Gape reaching to beneath the anterior part of the eye. Lips
thick and fleshy, and partly reflexed, much resembling those of a
_Labrus_. Lower jaw projecting a little beyond the upper, and
inclining upwards to meet it. An outer row of strong conical teeth
in each jaw, with a velutine band behind; the band broad above, but
very narrow below. A largish triangular patch of velutine teeth on
the vomer, and a smaller one on each palatine. Tongue free and
fleshy, smooth. Eyes moderately large, their diameter one-fifth the
length of the head; high in the cheeks, reaching to, but not
interrupting, the line of the profile. The superciliary tentacles
consist each of eight short bristles, all separate to the root, but
forming together a closely compacted series: two on the nape, of the
same length as them, are broad and palmated, the upper half only
being divided into eight or ten slender filaments: two on the
nostrils are similar to those on the nape, only somewhat smaller.
The dorsal commences at the nape, a little behind the nuchal
appendages, and has the spinous portion long, and of nearly
uniform height, but no where very high. The spines increase very
gradually in length as they advance, the first being the shortest:
in the middle of the fin, they equal about one-third the depth of
the body, or hardly so much: above each is a short filamentous
tag, as in the _Labridæ_. The soft portion is nearly twice the
height of the spinous. A small interval between the termination of
this fin and the caudal. The anal commences under the twelfth
spine of the dorsal: its own two spines are very short, and not
half the length of the soft rays, which last are not quite so long
as those of the dorsal: the membrane between each of the rays is
deeply notched. This fin terminates a very little before the
dorsal. The caudal, when expanded, appears slightly rounded.
Pectorals broad and rounded, about one-fifth of the entire length.
Insertion of the ventrals directly underneath the commencement of
the dorsal, and both in a vertical line with the posterior margin
of the preopercle. These last fins are contained nearly nine times
in the entire length.
Body covered with moderately small scales; the length and breadth of
each scale nearly equal, with the basal portion nearly covered by
an irregular fan of striæ, eighteen or twenty in number. Head
naked, but the crown and upper part of the snout studded with
papillæ, terminating upwards in pores. There are rows of minute
scales between the rays of the dorsal for about one-third of their
height; also at the base of the caudal and pectorals, but none on
the anal. The lateral line commences behind the upper angle of the
opercle at one-fourth of the depth; when opposite the eleventh ray
of the dorsal, it begins to bend downwards, and continues falling
till opposite the seventeenth ray, when it gets to the middle of
the depth; from that point it passes straight to the caudal.
[Illustration:
_Fish. Pl. 18._
_Waterhouse Hawkins del^t._
]
_1. Clinus crinitus._ _Nat. Size._
_2. Acanthoclinus fuscus._ _Nat. Size._
COLOUR.—(_In spirits._) Nearly uniform dark brown ground, but with
some indications of round black spots, which were probably more
conspicuous in the living fish. Eight or nine of these spots appear
on the posterior half of the dorsal, forming a longitudinal row; and
there is a row more faintly marked out along the base of the anal;
these last are smaller than those on the dorsal. Chin, throat, and
gill membrane, thickly covered with small spots: also a black patch
extending over a large portion of the eye from above and behind.
Habitat, Coquimbo, Chile.
This species, obtained by Mr. Darwin at Coquimbo, is nearly allied to
several other Chilian species, described by Cuvier and Valenciennes, but
differs from all of them in having more rays in the anal fin,
independently of other respects. It seems to approach most closely the
_C. variolosus_; but this latter is represented as having the
superciliary tentacles palmated, composed of from twelve to fifteen
bristles, and the nuchal ones papilliform and so small as to be hardly
visible. In the present species, the superciliary tentacles consist, as
above stated, of eight bristles separate quite to the root, while those
on the nape are equally as large and as much developed, and strictly, as
well as very distinctly, palmated. The crown also is scarcely convex, as
represented to be the case in that species: to which it may be added,
that the spots on the dorsal fin are more numerous, and their relative
size compared with those on the anal different.
The _C. microcirrhis_ is said to want superciliary tentacles altogether,
otherwise there are several points of resemblance between that species
and the one here described.