Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 365 



Comparison of B. brevkaudata with B. tyrannus 

 (in per cent of standard length) 



brevkaudata tyrannus brevicaudata tyrannus 



Head: length 29-30.5 30.5-33 Mandible: length 15. 5-16. 5 17. 5-18. 5 



Eye: diameter 5-5~ ^-o 6.2— 6.g Caudal f:n: lower lobe 22.5—27 3o~33 



Maxillary: length ... . 12-13 i+~i5 Pectoral fin : length . . 13. 5-16 19.5-20 



rank, with the designation of a lectotype approximately 180 mm TL (caudal somewhat 

 damaged) and 145 mm SL, USNM 129797 {^8: 10). 



Thus the characters in all respects are smaller in brevicaudata than in tyrannus. 

 The maxillary in the former reaches about to a vertical from the posterior margin of 

 the pupil instead of well behind it; the caudal's lower lobe in brevicaudata, if measured 

 from the middle of the caudal base, is shorter than the head instead of about equal 

 to it in length; the pectoral in brevicaudata fails to reach the base of the pelvic by a 

 distance exceeding the eye's diameter instead of less than its diameter, and it leaves 

 5—7 vertical series of scales exposed instead of 3 or 4, as in tyrannus. 



If the specimens of brevicaudata are compared with examples from the southern 

 part of the range of tyrannus., as from Fernandina, Florida, the differences are even more 

 pronounced, for the head and eye in such material are relatively larger than those in 

 northern specimens of tyrannus., and the fins are still longer. 



Nothing distinctive is known about the life history of this species. 



Range. Known only from Noank, Connecticut. 



Synonyms and References: 



Brevoortia tyrannus var. brevicaudata Goode, Proc. U. S. nat. Mus., I, 1879: 34, 37 (orig. descr.; type local. 



Noank, Connecticut; cotypes USNM 14846; cf. "normal" tyrannus and aured). 

 Brevoortia tyrannus brevicaudata Goode, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1877), Append. A, 1879: 22 (said to vary 



from "normal type" with shorter maxillary' and mandible, lower anal, and shorter caudal; Noank, Conn.); 



Jordan and Evermann, BuU. U. S. nat. Mus., 47 (i), 1896: 634 (cf. aurea, after Goode); Jordan, Ever- 



mann, and Clark, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1928), 2, 1930: 44 (range, synon.). 

 Brevoortia brevicaudata Hildebrand, Smithson. misc. Coll., 707(18), 1948: 10, fig. 2 (synon., descr., range, 



lectotype USNM 129797). 



Brevoortia patronus Goode 1879 



Largescale Menhaden, Gulf Menhaden, Alewife, Shad 



Figures 84, 85, 91 



Study Material. At least iio specimens. So— 26^ mm TL, 45—207 mm SL, col- 

 lected at many places along the Gulf coast from Apalachicola, Florida, to Brazos 

 Santiago, Texas, including the types of B. -patronus Goode, USNM 892. Some of the 

 data used were extracted from unpublished tables prepared by the late William W. 

 Welsh; also a few lots of juveniles. 



Distinctive Characters. See Relationship (p. 370). 



