75. CARANGID^i SELENE. 439 



adult, very oblique in the young. First rays of dorsal and anal fila- 

 mentous, exceedingly long, becoming shorter with age. Lateral line 

 with a wide arch, the curved portion about equal to straight. Scaly 

 sheath of fins little developed. Scutes become stronger and blunter 

 with age. Ventrals broad. Occipital keel sharp. Pectorals long and 

 falcate, longer than head. Head 3 Jin length ; depth 1% to 2. D. VI-I, 

 19; A. II-I, 10. Scutes 12. Cape Cod to South America 5 not very 

 abundant northwards. 



(Zeus erinittis Alcerly, Auier. .lour. Sci. xi, 144; Dek. N. Y. Fauna, Fish. 123: Caranx 

 sutor Giiuther, ii, 454.) 



223. SE1LENE Lacepede. 



Moon fishes. 



(Argyriosus Lace~pedo : Vomer Cuvier.) 

 (Lacdpedo, Hist. Nat. Poiss. iv, 560, 1803: type Selene aryentea Lac.) 



Body very closely compressed and much elevated, the profile very 

 oblique or nearly vertical ; edges of body everywhere trenchant, especially 

 anteriorly. Head short and very deep, the opercle very short, and the 

 preorbital extremely deep; an abrupt angle at the occipital region. 

 Mouth rather small; premaxillaries protractile, fitting into a notch 

 between the bases of the maxillaries; maxillaries broad, each with a 

 supplemental bone. Tongue narrow, free. Teeth minute, on jaws, 

 tongue, voiner, and palatines. Gill-rakers long and slender. Spines of 

 fins usually weak, more or less filamentous in the young; free anal 

 spines immovable, sometimes obsolete in the adult. Soft fins falcate 

 or not. Nofinlets. Head naked. Scales minute. Lateral line unarmed. 

 Coloration silvery. (^e^vi?, the moon.) 

 ft. Soft dorsal and anal with, the anterior rays much produced in the adult. (Selene.) 



693. . vonter (L.) Liitken. Moon-fish; Look Down; Horse-head. 



Bluish above, sides and below silvery with golden reflections ; ante- 

 rior edge of soft dorsal black ; axil dusky. Diameter of eye, length of 

 opercle, and distance from eye to profile about equal ; eye 2 in maxillary, 

 2J in preorbital ; mandibles very deep, the deutary bones thin, approxi- 

 mate ; one or two of the dorsal spines greatly elongate and filamentous 

 in the young, short in the adult ; ventrals variable in length, usually 

 about as long as the eye ir the adult, variously elongate in partly grown 

 specimens. Head 3 in length; long dorsal rays 2; pectoral 2f ; long- 

 anal rays 2|; depth 1. D. VII-I, 22; A. II-I, 20. Warm seas; 

 rather common southward, north to Long Island, and Lower California. 



(Zeus vomer Linn. Syst. Nat.: Zeus capillaris Mitch. Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. 



