CHAPTER XVII 

 CAVALLAS AND PAMPANOS 



1 HE Pampanos : Carangidae. We next take up the great 

 family of Pampanos, Carangida, distinguished from 

 the Scombrid(B as a whole by the shorter, deeper 

 body, the fewer and larger vertebrae, and by the loss of the pro- 

 vision for swift movement in the open sea characteristic of the 

 mackerels and their immediate allies. A simple mark of the 

 CarangidcB is the presence of two separate spines in front of 

 the anal fin. These spines are joined to the fin in the young. 

 All of the species undergo considerable changes with age, and 

 almost all are silvery in color with metallic blue on the back. 



Most like the true mackerel are the "leather-jackets," or 

 "runners," forming the genera Scomber -aides and Oligoplites. 

 Scomberoides of the Old World has the body scaly, long, slender, 

 and fitted for swift motion ; Scomberoides sancti-petri is a widely 

 diffused species, and others are found in Polynesia. In the 

 New World genus Oligoplites the scales are reduced to linear 

 ridges imbedded in the skin at different angles. Oligoplites 

 saurus is a common dry and bony fish abounding in the West 

 Indies and ranging north in summer to Cape Cod. 



Naucrates ductor, the pilotfish, or romero, inhabits the 

 open sea, being taken everywhere rarely in Europe, the 

 West Indies, Hawaii, and Japan. It is marked by six black 

 cross-bands. Its tail has a keel, and it reaches a length of about 

 two feet. In its development it undergoes considerable change, 

 its first dorsal fin being finally reduced to disconnected spines. 



The amber-fishes, forming the genus Seriola, are rather 

 robust fishes, with the anal fin much shorter than the soft dor- 

 sal. The sides of the tail have a low, smooth keel. From a 

 yellow streak obliquely across the head in some species they 

 receive their Spanish name of coronado. The species are 



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