FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



361 



Figure 190. — Dolphin (Coryphaena hippurus). From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



forked tail fin. These characters, with its side- 

 wise flattened form, notably steep forehead, 

 deeply forked tail, and large ventral fins, separate 

 it at a glance from the few other Gulf of Maine 

 fishes which have long dorsal fins with bodies 

 that are deepest forward. Its anal fin, 26 to 30 

 rays, originating about midway of its body, is 

 about half as long and half as high as the dorsal 

 which has 55 to 65 rays. The lobes of its deeply 

 forked tail are long and slender. Its moderately 

 long ventrals and pectorals are situated the one 

 below the other. 



Color. — The dolphin is famous for its brilliant 

 hues and for the vivid waves of color that flash 

 across it when first taken from the water. Alive, 

 in the sea, its sides are largely vivid blue, variously 

 mottled and washed with gold; its tail largely 

 golden yellow. 



Size. — Maximum length about 6 feet. 



Habits. — The dolphin, despite its blunt snout, 

 is one of the swiftest of fishes. Voyagers on tropic 

 seas often see them leaping in pursuit of small fry, 

 or when pursued themselves by larger fishes. In 



sailing ship days dolphins were often caught by 

 trolling from the stern. Offshore, they feed 

 largely on flying fish; the Sandwich specimen 

 mentioned later had some silversides in its 

 stomach. 



General range.- — Cosmopolitan in warm seas; 

 northward along our Atlantic Coast to southern 

 New England, where it is rare inshore, occasionally 

 straying as far as the outer coast of Nova Scotia. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — A dolphin 

 about Z}{ feet long (now in the collection of the 

 Boston Society of Natural History) and weighing 

 23 pounds, taken 60 miles south-southwest of 

 Cape Sable, in the deep gully between Browns 

 and Georges Banks by the trawler Natalie Ham- 

 mond, August 15, 1930, was the first record for 

 the Gulf of Maine; a second was taken in a trap 

 at North Truro on Cape Cod Bay, in August 

 1949 6 (a season when many were taken off 

 Marthas Vineyard) ; a third at Sandwich, on the 

 southern shore of Cape Cod Bay in mid-July 

 1951. 7 



THE SEA BREAMS OR POMFRETS. FAMILY BRAMIDAE 



The sea breams are usually considered the most 

 nearly related to the dolphins. But they rather 

 suggest the butterfisb.es (Family Stomateidae, 

 p. 363) in general appearance, with single, long, 

 falcate soft-rayed dorsal fin; anal similar to the 

 dorsal; lunate tails, very small ventrals; and deep, 

 sidewise flattened bodies. They are to be expect- 

 ed only as strays in the Gulf of Maine. 



Johnson's Sea Bream Taractes princeps 

 (Johnson) 1863 



Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, p. 36. 



Description. — This sea bream is unique among 

 Gulf of Maine fishes in its general appearance. 



' Reported by Schuck, Copeia 1951, p. 171. 



» We saw this specimen in the collection of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service at Woods Hole. 



