402 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Family xrichiurid ae 

 Cutlas Fishes 



Genus trichhrvs Linnaeus 

 Body extremely elongate, bandlike, the tail very slender^ 

 tapering to a fine point, without caudal fin; head long, with a 

 very wide mouth; the jaws armed with unequal and very strong 

 teeth; upper jaw with about four long, strongly compressed 

 barbed teeth; teeth on the palatines, none on the vomer; lower 

 jaw longest; preorbital covering cleft of mouth posteriorly; dor 

 sal fin single, low, occupying the whole of the back, the spines 

 not distinguishable from the soft rays; anal very long, its base 

 more than half the length of the body, composed of detached 

 spines which are very short, nearly hidden in the skin, the anter- 

 ior directed backward, the posterior forward; ventral fins want- 

 ing; pectorals small; no scales; lateral line decurved, concurrent 

 with the belly; vertebrae 39+120, ribs excessively frail. Color 

 silvery. Voracious fishes of the high seas, reaching a consider- 

 able size. (After Jordan and Evermann) 



201 Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus 



Sccibhard Fish; Hairtail 



Trichiurus leptvrvs Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. cd. X, I, 246, 1758, America; 



CuviEK & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VIII, 237. 1831; De Kay, 



N. Y. Fauna. Fishes. 109, pi. 12, fig. 3.5. 1842, Jamaica. Sandy HooIj; 



GiJNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 346, 1860; Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 



16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 422, 1883; Jordan & Evermann. Bull. 47. U. S. 



Nat. Mus. 889, 1896. pi. CXXXVII, fig. 375, 1900; Bean, Bull. Am. 



Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 360, 1897. 

 Trichiurus argeiiteus Shaw, Gen. Zool. IV, 90, pi. 12, 1803, after Linnaeus; 



MiTCHiLL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. See. N. Y. I, 364, 1815. 



Body greatly compressed, elongate, tapering to a very fine 

 point, the greatest hight little more than one half of length of 

 head, which is contained from seven and one half to eight and 

 one half times in total; mouth wide, oblique; the lower jaw 

 strongly projecting, the maxilla mostly concealed under the pre- 

 orbital, reaching to below front of pupil, the mandible one half 

 as long as the head and extending to a point behind the orbit; 

 interorbital space flat, its width equal to diameter of eye; snout 

 long and acute, three tenths as long as the head; a single large 



