Balistes Vetula, _Bloch_, Ichth. tab. 150.
———— _Duperrey_, (Voyage) Zoologie, p. 114, pl. 9. fig. 2.
FORM.—Body deep, subrhombic, very much compressed; the greatest depth
equalling half the entire length. Tail unarmed. Three or four larger
scales than the others behind the branchial orifice. Pelvic bone
projecting, prickly, connected with which is a fin consisting of
about nine pairs of short rays. Above this fin, and parallel to its
base, are two or three rows of short spines, but not much developed.
First dorsal of three spines, commencing above the pectoral; first
spine very strong and rough, the third not much smaller than the
second. Second dorsal, and anal, which answer to each other, nearly
even throughout, the anterior rays not being prolonged beyond the
others. The caudal is injured, and its exact form cannot be
determined. No lateral line.
D. 3—30; A. 27; C. 12; P. 14.
Length 1 inc. 10 lin.
COLOUR.—(_In spirits._) Yellowish grey, becoming paler beneath. Three
or four dark transverse streaks across the head from eye to eye:
beneath the eye one or two indistinct streaks, passing off towards
the branchial orifice: also two very distinct longer ones commencing
on the upper part of the snout before the eyes, and passing
obliquely across the cheeks towards the roots of the pectorals,
parallel to those last mentioned. Besides the above, there are
several obliquely transverse interrupted lines on the sides of the
body: in one specimen, these lines are not well-defined; in another,
they are distinct, but so much interrupted as to have the appearance
of spots arranged in a linear series. Two or three transverse lines
encircling the tail; and some remains of longitudinal stripes on the
second dorsal and anal fins.
The above description is that of two very small specimens of a species
of _Balistes_ taken by Mr. Darwin in Lat. 14° 20′ South, Long. 38° 8′
West, about sixty-five miles from land. I have very little doubt of
their being the young of the _B. Vetula_ of Bloch. The only respects in
which they appear to differ from that species are the oblique lines on
the back being carried completely across the sides in the form of lines
of spots, and the anterior portions of the second dorsal and anal fins
not being prolonged in a point; but both these differences may be the
effect of immaturity.