FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 161 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This lish, like so many others, finds its 

 northern limit at Cape Cod and would not deserve mention here at all were it not 

 recorded by Storer from the cape. West and south of Cape Cod, however, as at 

 Woods Hole, it is common enough in very shallow water about the heads of bays, 

 along weedy shores, and in brackish water. We have seined many of them with 

 Fundulus at the head of Buzzards Bay. 



Habits. — The breeding habits recall those of the "mummy" (p. 158), the males 

 fighting fiercely among themselves and clasping the females just forward of the 

 tail with dorsal and anal fins, while the eggs and milt are extruded. Spawning 

 takes place in shallow water from April to September, the eggs maturing a few 

 at a time, so that any given female spawns at intervals throughout the season. 

 The eggs sink and stick together in clumps by numerous threads. They are 1.2 

 to 1.4 mm. in diameter, with one large and many minute oil globules. Incubation 

 occupies 5 or 6 days, and even at hatching the larvte (4 mm. long) show alternate 

 light and dark crossbands. At a length of 9 nam. all the fins are formed, and at 

 12 m.m. the fry show most of the characters diagnostic of the species.^ 



THE BILLFISHES. FAMILY BELONID.E 



The most noticeable feature of the billfishes is tliat both jaws are prolonged 

 to form a long slim beak well armed with teeth. Their bodies are very slender, 

 with the anal, dorsal, and ventral fins set far back. There are no finlets, the 

 absence of these being the readiest field mark to separate the billfish from the needle- 

 fish (Scomberesox, p. 1 64) . They are sAvif t-swimming, predaceous fishes, represented 

 by many species, most of them American. Only one has ever been recorded in 

 the Gulf of Maine. 



60. Silver gar {Tylosurus marinus Walbaum) 



Billfish; Salt-water gar; Garfish; Sea pike; and various other local names 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 714. 



Description. — Several genera of fish with very long jaws or "bills" have been 

 recorded in the Gulf of Maine, the silver gar being distinguishable among them by 

 the fact that both its jaws are elongated instead of only the lower as in the half- 

 beaks (p. 163), and that there are no finlets between the dorsal and anal fins and 

 the caudal, whereas in the needlefish (Scomberesox, p. 164) there are five or six 

 small dorsal finlets and as many anal finlets. The long bills and slender bodies 

 give the gars a general aspect so peculiar that they are not likely to be confused 

 with any Gulf of Maine fish other than the two just mentioned. 



The body of the silver gar is about five and one-half times as long as deep, 

 roimded (not laterally flattened) in cross section, and thicker than deep. Its upper 

 jaw from the eye forward is twice as long as the rest of the head, both its jaws are 

 armed with sharp teeth, and its eye is large. Both its body and the sides of its 



w An account of courtship and spawning is given by Newman (Biological Bulletin, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods 

 Hole, Mass., Vol. XII, No. 5, April, 1907, p. 336J and of development by Kuntz (Bulletin, United States Bureau of Fisheries, 

 Vol. XXXIV, 1914 (1916), p. 409). 



