39. ENGRAULIDID.E. 271 



126. DOROSOMA Rafinesque. 



Gizzard Shad. 

 (Chatoessus Cn-vier, 1829.) 



(Rafinesque, Ichtli. Oh. 1820, 39: type Dorosoma iwiata Raf. = Chipca heterura Raf.) 



Characters of the family, with the addition that the last ray of the 

 dorsal is prolonged and filiform as in Opistlionema and Mcgalops. (<W/>" o 

 a lance; uS/jct, body ; in allusion to the form of the body in the young.) 



451. I>. cepediailUEU (Le S.) Gill. Gizzard Shad ; Hickory Shad. 



Silvery; bluish above; young with a round dark spot at the shoulder; 

 tips of ventrals and edge of anal often dusky. Body deep, compressed, 

 the back elevated in the adults. Dorsal about median, its filamentous 

 ray about as long as head, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Caudal 

 widely forked, the lower lobe the longer. Head 4^; depth 2f. Eye 4 

 in head. D. 12; A. 31; Lat. 1. 56; L. transv. 23; scutes 17 + 12. L. 15 

 inches. Cape Cod to Mexico; abundant southward, entering all rivers, 

 and permanently resident ( u var. heterurum") everywhere in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley in the larger streams; also introduced into Lake Michigan 

 and Lake Erie, and land-locked in ponds from !New Jersey to Nebraska 

 and Texas. A handsome fish, of no value as food. 



(Megalops cepediana Le Sueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1817, 361 : Chatoessus 

 cepedianus Giinther, vii, 409 : Clupea heterura Raf. Amer. Mouth. Mag. 1318, 354 : 

 Chaioessus ellipticus Kirtland, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist, iv, 235.) 



FAMILY XXXIX ENGRAULIDID^. 



(The Anchovies.) 



Body elongate, more or less compressed, covered with thin, cycloid 

 scales. Head compressed. Mouth extremely large, nearly horizontal, 

 usually overlapped by a pointed, compr?ssed, pig-like snout. Gape 

 very wide, the maxillary very long and slender, formed of about three 

 pieces, extending backward far behind the eye; in some genera, much 

 beyond the head. Premaxillaries not protractile, very small, firmly 

 joined to the maxillaries. Teeth small, variously arranged, usually fine 

 and even, in a single row in each jaw. Eye large, well forward, so that 

 the snout is very short. Preorbital narrow. Opercles little developed, 

 membranaceous. Gill-rakers long and slender. Branchiostegals slender, 

 7-14 in number. Gill-membranes separate or joined, free from the isth- 

 mus. Pseudobrauchise present. No lateral line. Belly rounded or weakly 



