FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



167 



and would not deserve mention here at all were it 

 not recorded from the Cape by Storer. West and 

 south of Cape Cod, however, as at Woods Hole, 



it is common enough in suitable situations. We 

 have seined many of them with Fundvlus at the 

 head of Buzzards Bay. 



THE BILLFISHES OR SILVER GARS. FAMILY BELONIDAE 



The most noticeable feature of the billfishes is 

 that both of their jaws are prolonged to form a long 

 slim beak well armed with teeth. Their bodies 

 are very slender, and their anal, dorsal, and ventral 

 fins set far back. They have no finlets between 

 the dorsal and anal fins and the caudal, the absence 

 of these being the readiest field mark to separate 

 the billfishes from the needlefishes (Scomber esox, p. 

 170). They are swift-swimming, predaceous fishes, 

 represented by many species, most of them 

 American. Only two have ever been recorded in 

 the Gulf of Maine. 3 



Key to Gulf of Maine Billfishes 



Body as thick as it is deep; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins 

 only moderately concave Silver Gar, p. 167 



Body less than }i as thick as it is deep; dorsal, anal, and 

 caudal fins deeply concave Garfish, p. 168 



Silver gar Tylosurus marinus (Walbaum) 1792 4 



Billfish; Salt-water gar; Sea pike; and 

 various other local names 



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



Description. — Its long bill and slender body give 

 the gar so peculiar an aspect that it is not likely to 

 be confused with any other Gulf of Maine fish 



'The closely allied houndflsh (Tylosurus acus Lacepe.de 1803) has been 

 taken at Nantucket, but has not been found within the Oulf of Maine. 

 Since It may appear there as a stray from the south , we may point out that it 

 Is easily distinguished from the sliver gar by Its de eply forked tall and by the 

 fact that Its dorsal and anal fins are much longer, the former with 23 rays, the 

 latter with 21. The following characters In combination will serve to Identify 

 It among the several tropical gars; mouth nearly closable and upper jaw not 

 arched; dorsal and anal fins long; beak at least twice as long as rest of head; 

 greatest depth of body not more than two-thirds as great as length of pec- 

 toral fin; no lateral stripe. 



• Jo rdan, Evermann, and Clark (Kept. U. 8. Comm. Fish., (1928) Pt. 2, 

 1930, p. 196) place this species In the genus Strongylum Van Hasselt 1824. 



other than the half beak (p. 169), the needle fish 

 (p. 170), or its own close relative Ablennes (p. 168). 

 And it is easily distinguishable from the first of 

 these by the fact that both of its jaws are prolonged 

 instead of only the lower; from the second by lack- 

 ing detached finlets on its back between its dorsal 

 and caudal fins. The most conspicuous differ- 

 ences between the silver gar and Ablennes (p. 168) 

 is that the body of the former is thicker than it is 

 deep, and that its fins are only moderately con- 

 cave, whereas the latter is so strongly flattened 

 sidewise that it is less than one-half as thick as it 

 is deep with deeply concave fins. 



The head of the adult silver gar occupies nearly 

 one-third of the total length of the fish; the upper 

 jaw, from the eye forward, is twice as long as the 

 rest of the head; both jaws are armed with sharp 

 teeth; and the eyes are large. The long, slender 

 body is only about one-twentieth as deep as long, 

 rounded (not laterally flattened) in cross section, 

 and thicker than deep. Both the body and the 

 sides of the head are scaly. The dorsal fin, with 

 13 to 17 rays, and the anal fin, with 17 to 21 rays, 

 are alike in outline, the anterior rays of both being 

 much longer than those toward the rear, and the 

 rear two-thirds of each can be depressed along the 

 back and nearly concealed in a groove, while the 

 forward one-third continues erect. Both fins, too, 

 are situated far back, with the dorsal arising a 

 little behind the forward end of the anal. 



The ventral fins stand about halfway between 

 a point below the eye and the base of the caudal. 

 The margin of the caudal fin is only moderately 

 concave, this fact being the readiest field mark to 

 separate this particular gar from the only other 

 species of its genus (Tylosurus acus) taken yet near 

 the Gulf of Maine (see footnote, p. 167), for the tail 

 of the latter is deeply forked. There is a distinct 



Figure 79. — Silver gar (Tylosurus marinus). 



