77. STROMATEID.E. 449 



late. Lateral line unarmed. Veutrals thoracic, I, 5. sometimes depress- 

 ible in a deep groove in the abdomen. Dorsal tins separate ; the spines 

 usually feeble, connected by membrane. Soft dorsal long, sometimes 

 with linlets; anal fin similar to soft dorsal, without free spines; caudal 

 peduncle slender, the fin widely forked. Pyloric coeca numerous. Gen- 

 era 5 ; species about 10. Fishes of the tropical seas. 



(Scombridw, group Nbmeina Giiutker, ii, 337-392.) 



a. Cleft of mouth narrow ; veutrals received in a deep groove in the abdomen. 



NOMKUS, 231. 



231. NOIflEUS Cnvier. 

 (Cuvier, Regue Anim. 1817: type Gobi us gro;>ovii Gmelin. ) 



Body oblong, rather compressed, covered with rather small cycloid 

 scales. Head tiattish above; occipital crest little developed; cleft of 

 the mouth narrow. Teeth small, in a single series in the jaws; teeth 

 on the voiner and palatines. Pseudobranchire large. First dorsal with 

 10 or 11 spines ; second dorsal and anal very long, similar to each other, 

 without fiulets ; anal fin with 3 rather strong spines, none of them free ; 

 caudal fin not deeply forked ; ventral fins long and broad, attached to 

 the belly by a membrane, depressible in a deep furrow in the abdomen. 

 Lateral line running high. Air-bladder present. Pyloric cceca very 

 numerous. Vertebrae 16 + 25. Warm seas. (v ops us, pastor; early 

 travellers having compared the fish to a mullet, herder or Merger in 

 Dutch.) 



7O9. N. grosiovii (Gmel.) Gthr. 



Brownish above, silvery below, the sides below with large round 

 brown spots ; ventrals black, with silvery edgings ; anal with 3 brown 

 spots. Maxillary reaching to below the front of the eye; ventrals 

 reaching front of anal, pectorals still further. D. X-I, 26; A. Ill, 

 26. Tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; north to 

 Florida. 



(Gobius gronovii Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1788, 1203: Nofiicus mauritii Cuv. & Val. ix, 243 1 

 Gimtker, ii, 387.) 



FAMILY LXXVIL STROMATEID^. 



(The Broad Shiners.) 



Scombroid fishes, with the body compressed and more or less ele- 

 vated, covered with small or minute cycloid scales. Profile anteriorly 

 blunt and rounded. Mouth small. Premaxillaries protractile or not. 

 Dentition feeble ; no teeth on vomer or palatines ; oasophagus armed 

 Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 16 29 



