FISHES OF NEW YORK 689 



In 1815, Mitcliill described this si>ecies under the name of small 

 oceanic sucker. De Kay did not see the fish but obtained his 

 information from the writings of Mitchill and Schoeff. He 

 states that Schoeff saw this remora taken from the bottoms of 

 vessels in the harbor of New York. At Woods Hole Mass., 

 according to Dr Smith, the remora is rare. It was reported by 

 Prof. Baird in 1871, and the specimen in the collection at that 

 place was taken in July. It is usually found attached to large 

 sharks. In 1879 Messrs Goode and Bean found in the museum 

 of the Essex Institute, at Salem Mass. a specimen which was 

 reported to have come from Salem harbor. If it really was 

 obtained in that locality, it must have been attached to the 

 bottom of some vessel from a southern port. 



342 Remora brachyptera (Lowe) 

 Swordfish Sucker 



Eclieneis brachyptera Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 89, 1839, Madeira, 



6uNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 378, 1860; Jordan & Gilbert, 



Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 417, 1883. 

 Eclieneis quatuordecimlaminatiis Stoker, Rep. Fisb. Mass. 155, 1839; 



De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fish. 309, 1842 (extralimital) ; Storer, Hist. 



Fish. Mass. 212, pi. XXXII, fig. 4, 1867. 

 Remoropsis hrachypterus Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 60, 1864. 

 Remoropsis brachyjytera Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 21, 1879. 

 Remora brachyptera Jordan & Evermann, Check-List Fish. N. A. 490, 1896, 



H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 106, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, 



Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 2272, 1896; IV, pi. CCCXXX, fig. 797 



797a, 1900. 



The length of the head is contained nearly four times in the 

 length of the body, which is six and one half times the width 

 between the pectorals. Body robust, the greatest depth nearly 

 twice the length of the short pectoral fins; disk shorter than base 

 of dorsal, rather broad; upper jaw angular; caudal nearly trun- 

 cate. D. XVI-30; A. 26. 



Light brown, darker below; fins paler. 



The swordfish sucker is an inhabitant of warm seas, ranging 

 northward to Cape Cod, and to Japan. It is a small species and 

 has usually been found attached to the swordfish. Dr Storer, in 

 his Report on tJw FlsJies of Massachusetts, 1839, recorded a speci- 

 men from Holmes Hol^, Marthas Vineyard. At Woods Hole 



