A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 2 (of 2)

by David Starr Jordan

Of these the most primitive is Calotomus, confined to the East Indies and Polynesia. In this genus the teeth are united at base, their tips free and imbricated over the surface of the jaw.

The species are dull in color, reddish or greenish. Calotomus japonicus is the Budai or Igami of Japan. Calotomus sandwichensis and Calotomus irradians are found in Hawaii, and Calotomus xenodon on the off-shore islands of Mexico. In Calotomus the dorsal spines are slender. In Scaridea (balia) of the Hawaiian Islands the first dorsal is formed of pungent spines as in Sparisoma.

Fig. 323.—Pharyngeals of Italian Parrot-fish, Sparisoma cretense (L.). a, upper; b, lower.

Fig. 324.—Jaws of a Parrot-fish, Calotomus xenodon Gilbert.

Fig. 325.—Cryptotomus beryllinus Jordan & Swain. Key West, Florida.

Cryptotomus of the Atlantic is also a transitional group having the general characters of Sparisoma, but the anterior teeth more separate. The several species are all small and characteristic of the West Indian fauna, one species, Cryptotomus beryllinus, ranging northward to Long Island.