404 NEW YORK STATE MUSEIUM 



present, of two or three rays; dorsal fin extremely high, continu- 

 ous, as in the young of Tetrapturus and Xiphias, the 

 rays very numerous, none being aborted, the bight of the first 

 much greater than that of body; anal fin divided; air bladder 

 sacculate; intestine short, nearly straight; sword usually shorter 

 and less flattened than in Xiphias, the edge more rounded, 

 the lower jaw more developed. The skin is also rougher. Large 

 fishes of the warm seas; the number of species uncertain, prob- 

 ably several. (After Jordan and Evermann) 



202 Istiophorus nigricans (Lacepede) 



Sa/ilfi&h; Spikefish 



Malcaira nigricans LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss. IV, 688, 1803, Rochelle. 

 Histiopliorns americanus CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VIII, 



303, 1831, Brazil. 

 Istiophorus nigricans JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 891, 



1896, pi. CXXXVII, fig. 376, 1900; SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII. 97, 



1898; GOODE, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. IV, 415, 1882. 



Body compressed, highest in front, elongate, the greatest bight 

 one seventh of the total length from tip of upper jaw to end of 

 middle caudal rays; least bight of caudal peduncle one half of 

 postorbital length of head; the upper jaw projecting beyond the 

 lower a distance more than equal to greatest bight of body; the 

 profile of the head descending very steeply from the origin of the 

 dorsal to the eye; the lower jaw extending in front of the eye a 

 distance equal to postorbital part of head. The dorsal fin begins 

 on the nape and extends nearly the entire length of the back, 

 but the first is separated from the second by a very deep and 

 long notch and a short interspace; the longest spine equals one 

 half the distance from the eye to the second dorsal and is one 

 fourth of total length including caudal; the spinous dorsal forms 

 almost a semicircle when fully expanded, with a deep anterior 

 and a deeper median notch. The second dorsal base is one sixth 

 as long as the head to tip of upper jaw; its longest ray is one half 

 the length of postorbital part of bead. The caudal is very deeply 

 forked, its width at base one fourth of length of external rays, 

 which are nearly one fourth of total without caudal. There are 

 two small keels on the base of the caudal. The divided anal fin 



