QH 1 B4X NH U 7 2 55-372 3 October 1969 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON CITHARICHTHYS ABBOTTI, A NEW FLATFISH (BOTHIDAE) FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO By C. E. Dawson Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, Mississippi I have recently collected a number of specimens of a flatfish, referable to the bothid genus Citharichthys Bleeker, from coastal waters of Veracruz and Campeche, Mexico. It was im-possible to identify this fish by means of existing revisionary studies or keys (Parr, 1931; Norman, 1934; Gutherz, 1967) and comparison with its most closely related western Atlantic con-geners reveals significant differences in a number of meristic and morphological characters. In view of its apparent abun-dance on the Mexican coast and the possibility of its confusion with related Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean forms, I take this opportunity to describe this new species and to provide com-parative notes on C. spilopterus Giinther and C. arenaceus Evermann and Marsh. Type material has been deposited in the collections of the following institutions: United States National Museum (US-NM); Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP); Museum of Comparative Zoology ( MCZ ) ; University of Miami, Institute of Marine Science (UMML); Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Biologico Pesqueras, Mexico (INIBP) and the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory ( GCRL ) . Measurements were made with dial calipers or ocular microm-eter and recorded to the nearest 0.1 mm. Morphometric criteria requiring special definition are as follows: standard length (SL) — anteriormost tip of premaxillary to rear of hy-pural; head length (HL) — tip of premaxillary to posteriormost fleshly margin of opercle; body depth — ^maximum vertical dis-26— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 82, 1969 (355)
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