In "Designing Great Beers" Ray Daniels says: "(The hydrometer reading should be observed at the top of the small meniscus that forms around the hydometer shaft.) While this might seem simple, I did it incorrectly for nearly six years!" (page 14).
The SG looks like 1.045 if you read it that way.
I agree a couple of points either way doesn't make much of a difference, but read the above again - Ray only did it wrong for 6 years, I did it for much longer than that! For a gravity reading you read from the TOP of the meniscus. This is totally different from taking a volume reading, where you read the bottom of the meniscus.
I suspect it is designed this way because for a volume reading you read the marks on the
outside of the vessel so the color and viscosity of the liquid make no difference. For a gravity reading you read the marks off of something floating
in the liquid, so the color/viscosity may make it harder to read the bottom, but you can look from the side and see where the top is.
But not that big of a deal either way.