390 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



ventral origin is at a distance from tip of snout equal to one 

 third of total length to caudal base; the fin is two fifths as 

 long as the head, extending as far back as the pectoral, to a 

 point below the ninth spine of the dorsal. The ventral sheath 

 is little bifurcate at its tip, its length little more than one half 

 the length of ventral fin. The pectoral is somewhat falcate,, 

 its length equal to postorbital part of head. D. XV-I, 12- VIII; 

 A. ii, 12- VII; V. I, 5; P. I, 26. 



Color bluish above, sides and lower parts silvery; several 

 wavy, more or less interrupted, dark streaks above lateral line, 

 beginning under the middle of the spinous dorsal; five or six 

 roundish brown spots, about as large as the pupil, between the 

 pectoral and ventral fins; tip of spinous dorsal and inner sur- 

 face of ventral dusky. 



The little tunny is common in the Mediterranean and the West 

 Indies and ranges northward occasionally to Cape Cod. It is 

 said to reach the length of 4 feet, but no individuals of that size 

 are recorded from our waters. Prof. S. F. Baird collected an 

 example about 2 feet long at Woods Hole Mass, in 1871. A spe- 

 cimen 13 inches long was taken at Pensacola Fla. by Silas 

 Stearns in 1878. Though eaten in Mediterranean countries, the 

 flesh is not much esteemed. 



Genus THUNNUS South 



Body oblong, robust, with very slender caudal peduncle; head 

 conical; mouth wide, with one series of small, conical teeth in 

 the jaws and bands of minute villiforin or sandlike teeth on 

 the vomer and palatines; scales present, those of the pectoral 

 region forming an obscure corselet; first dorsal of 12 to 15 

 spines, which grow gradually shorter backward, the interval 

 between last spine and second dorsal slight; second dorsal and 

 anal short and rather high, each with eight to 10 finlets; ven- 

 trals moderate, pectorals moderate, inserted rather below the 

 level of the eye; vertebrae normal, 'SO to 41 in number, the lower 

 foramina very small. Open seas; the single species widely dis- 

 tributed. Size very large. 



