262 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE SLENDER HERRING. 



Alosa teres, 

 plate xl. fig. 128. — (state collection.) 



Characteristics. Body cylindrical. Ventrals behind the dorsal. Length six or seven inches. 



Description. Body elongated, cylindrical. Length of the head to the total length, as one 

 to five nearly ; greatest depth one inch. Scales large, orbicular, deciduous ; ascending on 

 the caudal fin. A very long and slender accessory scale to the pectorals ; a short and rounded 

 one to the ventrals. Lateral line indistinct. Head long and pointed, with a long and deep 

 furrow on the summit, terminating in front in a point : this furrow has a central carina (see 

 figure). Orbits large, 0"5 in diameter, and distant one diameter from the tip of the snout; 

 its upper margin somewhat prominent. Nostrils contiguous, vertical ; the posterior largest. 

 The mouth protractile, large ; the edges of the maxillaries armed with microscopic teeth. 

 Tongue long, pointed, with asperities on its surface. A distinct notch in the upper jaw. 

 Opercles large ; the posterior margin of the opercle with a silvery membrane. On the mar- 

 gin of the suborbital, are three or four flat truncated radiating rays. 



The dorsal fin rather higher than long, arising at a point midway between the tip of the 

 snout and a point vertical to the last anal ray : the two first longest, thence rapidly decreasing 

 to the thirteenth ; the last rays feeble, slightly longer than their antecedents ; the margin con- 

 cave. Pectorals low down, long and falcate. Ventrals broad ; their rays subequal, with an 

 intervening broad plate ; they are nearly equidistant between the first rays of the dorsal and 

 anal. Anal short, longer than high, concave on its margin ; the anterior and posterior rays 

 subequal, the first ray very short. 



Color. Bright silvery ; darker above, with a tinge of blue and yellow on the flanks. Sides 

 of the head metallic silvery, mixed with cupreous. Irides golden. Dorsal and caudal tinged 

 with yellow ; the remaining fins transparent, feebly punctate with black. 



Length, 7-0 ; of the head, 1'5. 



Fin rays, D. 19 ; P. 15 ; V. 10 ; A. 12 ; C. 19 f . 



This is a rare species, and I have never met with more than one specimen. It was taken 

 with a seine in the harbor of New-York, in the latter part of October. I am inclined to sus- 

 pect that it is a southern species, from the season at which it was taken, and its association 

 with numerous specimens of the Saurus, to be hereafter described. 



