57. SCOMBERESOCID,E SCOMBERESOX. 375 



with very feeble teeth; lower jaw the longer. Maxillaries joined to 

 premaxillaries. Pectorals and ventrals small; dorsal small, opposite, 

 anal ; last 4-6 rays of dorsal and anal detached, forming finlets. No 

 pyloric coeca. Air-bladder large. Gill-rakers numerous, long and slen- 

 der. Size rather small. Species 2 or more, ranging widely in the open 

 sea. (Scomber; Esox.) 



a. Jaws produced in a beak. 



601. S. saiirsas (Walb.) Fleming. Saury; Skipper; Bill-fish. 



Olive brown above, sides and below silvery; a distinct silvery band 

 as broad as the eye bounding the dark of the back. Head broad above, 

 narrowed below, tapering anteriorly to the very slender pointed beak; 

 snout longer than the rest of the head. Fins all small; caudal fin 

 forked ; veiitrals midway between base of caudal and front of eye. 

 Head 3 in length; depth 9. D. 9 VI; A. 12 VI; Lat. 1. 110. L. 

 18 inches. Atlantic Ocean; rather common on both coasts, and found 

 in the open seas. 



(Esox saurus Walbaum, Artedi, Pise, iii, 93, 1792: Scomberesox camperi Cuv. & Val. 

 xviii, 464: Scomberesox scutellatum Le Sueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. ii, 132, 1821; 

 Fleming, Brit. Auim. 184 ; Giinther, vi, 257 : Scomberesox storcri Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 

 315 : ? Scomberesox rondeleti Giiiither, vi, 257. ) 



aa. Jaws scarcely produced, not forming a beak. 



602. . brevirostris Peters. 



Dark green above, silvery below; sides with a lateral silvery stripe, 

 bounded above by a dusky streak; upper fins mostly dusky; lower 

 pale. Body much elongate, compressed, widest above, the abdomen 

 and lower edge of head trenchant. Upper jaw conical, not produced, 

 ending in a very acute tip; lower jaw slightly longer, its tip produced 

 for a very slight distance, and flexible; triangular portion of premax- 

 illaries as long as broad; snout a little more than half length of rest of 

 head; interorbital space flat; maxillary reaching front of orbit. Teeth 

 very minute, in a single row in each jaw. Eye large, in fron^t of middle 

 of head. Pectoral fin somewhat emargiuatc, % length of head; ven- 

 trals small, far back, slightly nearer tip of snout than tip of lower lobe 

 of caudal; dorsal inserted slightly behind front of anal; both fins low, 

 the finlets small; caudal widely forked, the lobes equal. Scales small, 

 deciduous, those on top of head forming an elliptical patch. Head 5; 

 depth 9. D. 9 VI; A. 12 VI; Lat. 1. ca. 125. L. 14 inches. Coast 

 of California; rare. 



(Peters, Monatsberii ;lit Akad. Wiss. Berl. July, 18G6, 521 : ? Scomberesox saira Gtmther, 

 vi,258.) 



