British West Indies — SAILFISH, Billfish, Ocean 

 gar, squadron, Mere, Balahoo, Mammon bala- 

 hoo (Patois names). 



Ceylon — SAILFISH, Thalapatha (Sinhalese dia- 

 lect), Myl min (Tamil dialect). 



China — TONG FANG CHIYH 



Comores Is. — MBASSI KOURI 



Cuba — AGUJA VOLADORA, Aguja de abanico, 

 Abanico, Prieta, Voladora, Bicuda. 



France — LE VOILIER 



Ghana — AMERICAN SAILFISH, Onyankle (Ga), 

 Adzietekwesi (Adanme), Fetiso (Fante). 



India — SAILFISH, Yemungolah (Tamil dialect), 

 Plain sailfish, Tadmasa (Marathi dialect). 



Japan — BASHOKAJIKI, Nishibashokajiki (At- 

 lantic Ocean form). 



Kenya — NSULI NSULI, Mbassi 



Madagascar — NDWARO 



Malaya — LAYER, Mersuji 



Mexico — PEX VELA, Volador 



Philippines — SAILFISH, Sailfin, Malasugi (Bi- 

 kol), Kandayan, Kandelan (Marinao, Samal and 

 Tao Sug), Dogso, Dugso, Malasugi, Liplipan 

 (Visayan), Dumosok (Pangasinan). 



Portugal — VELEIRO 



Senegal — ESPADON, Oumbajhe 



Sumatra — IKAN-JEGAN, Johoo malags 



Taiwan — YU SAN YU, yu sanchiyu 



Tanzania — NSULI NSULI, Mbassi 



USSR — PARUSNIK-RYBA 



Union of South Africa — SAILFISH 



United States — SAILFISH, Atlantic sailfish, Pa- 

 cific sailfish, Mexican volador, Pacific volador, 

 Florida sailfish, Spikefish, Boohoo, Woohoo, Voi- 

 lier, Volador, Au-lepe (Hawaiian). 



Venezuela — AGUJA VELA 



Vietnam — CA CO 



1.3 Morphology (condensed from Nakamura et al., 

 1968; Morrow and Harbo, 1969). 



1.31 External morphology 



The dorsal fin is extremely high, sail shaped with 

 the middle rays decidedly the longest. The ventral fin 

 rays are very long, almost reaching the vent, and the 

 fin membrane is well developed. On the sides of the 

 body there are 10 rows of striped crest patterns con- 

 sisting of many light blue dots. There is a clear crest 

 on the outer edge of the head between the preocular 

 area and the base of the first dorsal fin. The body is 

 extremely flat; the cranium long and narrow. The 

 neural spines and hemal spines of the central 

 vertebrae form a triangular shape. There are 24 

 vertebrae (12 + 12 = 24). The lateral apophysis is not 

 well developed. 



There are two dorsal fins and two anal fins (counts 

 are given in Table 1). The pectoral fin has 17-20 soft 

 rays; the ventral fin has 1 spine and 2 soft rays. The 

 caudal fin has 17 principal rays (9/8) and 20-22 sec- 

 ondary rays (10/10 or 11/11). 



The body is elongated and laterally compressed. 

 The snout is long and round in cross section. Many of 

 the scales have a single point which is not sharp. The 

 lateral line is easily distinguishable, curving above the 

 pectoral fin and then continuing in a straight line 

 toward the tail. The caudal fin is deeply forked and 

 two scutes precede it on each side of the caudal 

 peduncle. The pectoral fin is low on the body, relative- 

 ly long and pointed. The second dorsal and second anal 

 fins are small. Internally, the nasal rosette is radially 

 shaped with about 48 nasal laminae. The abdominal 

 cavity is extremely long, extending past the vent to 

 the middle of the base of the second anal fin. The 

 visceral organs are also elongate. 



Other than the differences noted above between the 



Table 1.— Number of dorsal and anal rays. (Modified from Morrow and Harbo, 1969; Merrett, 1971.) 



97 



