116 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS TRACHINOTUS. Cuvier. 



Body elevated, compressed. Profile descending abruptly before the eyes. First rays of the 

 dorsal and anal elongated. Free spines before the dorsal and anal fins. 



Obs. This genus, as it now stands, comprises twenty-four species, made up from the 

 genera Casimore, Trachinote and Acanthinion of Lacepede. They are chiefly from the North 

 and South Atlantic and the Indian oceans. 



THE SILVERY TRACHINOTE. 



Trachinotus argenteos. 

 Le Trachinote argentc, T. argenteus. Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 8, p. 413. 



Characteristics. Silvery. Height to its length as one to two. 5-6 dorsal spines, and one 

 recumbent, directed forwards. Length six inches. 



Description. Body elevated ; its height being one-half the head and body alone, without 

 including the lobes of the tail, which are more than one-fourth of the total length. Lateral 

 line irregular, with five or six slight undulations. Five and sometimes six free spines on the 

 back, without including the recumbent spine in front, nor that which adheres to the dorsal. 

 The rays of the dorsal and anal exceed in number most of their congeners. The points of 

 the dorsal and anal, when lying supine, reach only half the length of these fins. The limb 

 of the preopercle with slightly elevated radiating lines, and oblique strife on the base of the 

 opercle. Teeth minute, equal and velvet-like. Vertebra? compressed, twenty-three. The 

 recumbent spine is a part of the third interspinous. 



Color. Silvery, with blackish at the elongated tips of the dorsal, and on the middle of the 

 pectoral. 



Length, 6*0. 



Fin rays, D. 5 or 6.1.24; P. 18; V. 1.5; A. 2.1.21; C. 17 f. 



This species was received by Cuvier from New-York and Rio Janeiro, showing a wide 

 geographical range. Here it is so rare, that I have been compelled to adopt the description 

 given by Cuvier. 



