MASTERS OF THE WATER-BONY FISHES 221 



Habits: This is a pelagic species usually found in the powerful company 

 of the Portuguese man-of-war, Physalia. This fish is not immune to the poison of 

 the jellyfish, but somehow has learned to skillfully dodge the tentacles as it 

 runs in among them for protection against larger fishes. It eats small invertebrates 

 mostly and comes inshore only when the man-of-war drifts in. Not much is 

 known of it. 



DOLPHINS: Family Coryphaenidae 



There are only two species, both very similar. 



DOLPHIN (dorado): CorypJiaena hippiinis 



Size: Reaches 6 feet. 



Weight: Averages 5 pounds. Reaches 35 pounds. 



Distrihution: Cosmopolitan in warm. seas. North to Long Island in the Gulf 

 Stream. Not very common in the eastern Pacific. 



Identification: The shape and the soft dorsal fin, as illustrated, are distinctive. 

 In life, the colors are a beautiful series of changeable blues, greens, yellows, 

 and silver. The body is very streamlined and compressed. In old males, the 

 foreheads become verv high as shown in the drawing. 



Habits: The dolphin is one of the fastest fishes, capable of spurts of up to 50 

 mph. It prefers blue water and is pelagic on the surface, feeding avidly on small 

 fishes, especially the flying fish. Large ones usually travel in pairs, but small 

 ones school. 



Similar Species: The dolphin is often confused with the little dolphin, 

 Coryfhaena eqiiisetis, which reaches only 2!/2 feet and never has a high forehead. 

 The only way to separate the two is by comparing the number of lower fin rays 

 (litde dolphin: anal, 24 to 26, dorsal, 51 to 55; dolphin: anal, 26 to 30, dorsal, 

 55 to 65). The little dolphin is also cosmopolitan in warm seas, and is the most 

 common dolphin from southern California southward. 



HARVEST FISHES: Family Stromeidae 



These are plankton-feeding, silvery, pelagic, schooling fishes found in all warm 

 seas. All have a symmetrically round and deep body and lack ventral fins. When 

 small, these fishes have the habit of swimming under the bells of large jellyfishes, 

 but sometimes they get careless, bump into a tentacle, and are killed and eaten 

 by the jellvfish. 



BUTTERFiSH (dollarfish, HARVEST fish) : Pownotus tricanthiis 



Size: Averages 7 inches. Up to 1 foot. 



Distribution: Nova Scotia to Cape Hatteras. Deep water to Florida. 



Identification: This fish is compressed and silvery. 



Habits: This is a summer fish, schooling near shore at that time, appearing 

 and disappearing at about the same time as the common mackerel, Scomber. 

 The pelagic eggs are released in June and July. 



Similar Species: The harvest fish, Peprilus alepidotus, is of similar habits and 

 size as the butterfish, but it is much deeper of body, being nearly round when 

 viev.ed from the side. It is known from Cape Cod to Brazil, becoming more 

 common as the butterfish becomes rare to the south. It sometimes occupies the 

 area under the bell of the Portuguese man-of-war. 



