REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 89 



Food: Almost exclusively algae. 



Size: Twelve inches. At Woods Hole taken from three to eight inches. 



59. Euleptorhamphus velox (Poey). 



Geog. DisT.: West Indies, occasionally northward in the Gulf Stream to 

 Massachusetts. Rare. Taken off Nantucket (Putnam, 1870). 



Season in R. I.: Specimen in the U. S. National Museum, taken at New- 

 port by Mr. Brown. (Bull. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1879, 55.) 



Size: Eighteen inches. 



SCOMBERESOCID^. The Sauries. 



60. Scomberesox saurilS (Walbaum). Saury; Billfish. 



Geog. Dist.: Common in schools in open seas north of Cape Cod and of 

 France. Recorded several times from the coast of Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts (Kendall, 1908). According to Dr. Smith this species is 

 abundant north of Cape Cod. Rare at Woods Hole; recorded from 

 Long Island Sound (Linsley, 1844). 



Habitat: Surface of north temperate seas. (For note on the habits of 

 this species, see Bean, Fishes of New York, 1903, p. 329). 



Season IN R. I.: Rare. One specimen is in possession of the commission, 

 presented by Mr. J. M. K. Southwick, of Ne-wport, and dated 1899. 

 Two specimens presented by Mr. John Curran, taken off Sakonnet, 

 about July 10, 1909. 



Reproduction: Spawning apparently takes place in the open sea near 

 the surface. The eggs are pelagic, but are, nevertheless, provided with 

 filaments. The spawning season is unknown. The youngest known 

 larva is about three-fifths inch long (15 mm.). (Ehrenbaum, Nor- 

 disches Plankton, 4, 1905, 136.) 



Rate of Growth: Pelagic young up to 1| inches were taken in the Atlan- 

 tic in March, April, and May by the "Challenger." Young specimen 

 13^ inches in length was taken in St. Andrew's Bay in October. This 

 was probably in its second year. (Mcintosh and Masterman, British 

 Marine Food Fishes, 1897, 403.) Adults reach a length of eighteen 

 inches. 



EXOCCETID^. The Flying-Fishes. 



61. Parexocoetus mesogaster (Bloch). Black-wing; Flying-fish. 



Geog Dist.: Tropical seas, common in the East Indies and West Indies, 



and in the Hawaiian Islands. North in the Gulf Stream to Newport. 

 Season in R. I.: Specimen reported by Goode from Block Island, 1879. 



