DESCRIPTION OF THE YACHATS "SMELT," A NEW 

 SPECIES OF ATHERINOID FISH FROM OREGON. 



By David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder, 



Of Stanford University, California. 



We here describe a new species of Atherinoid fish, of the group 

 known locaUy, but wrongly, as "smelt," on the Pacific coast of the 

 United States. The type, now in the United States National Museuna, 

 is from the mouth of the Yachats River, where it was obtained by 

 Mr. R. E. Clanton, secretary of the Oregon Fish and Game Coxnmis- 

 sion. It is said that the species runs m large numbers into the 

 Yachats River, which is a small stream emptying into the Pacific 

 Ocean some 4 or 5 miles south of the Alsea Bay. It is a common food 

 fish, locaUy known as "Yachats smelt." 



ATHERINOPS OREGONIA, new species. 

 Plate 46. 



Head 5.6 in length to base of caudal; depth 4.6; depth caudal 

 peduncle 13.3; length snout 3.5 in head; diameter eye 4.4; width inter- 

 orbital space 2.7; scales in lateral series 67; dorsal rays vi-i, 12; 

 anal rays i, 24. 



Body deep, resembling that of AtJierinops affinis, the common 

 California species, except that it is arched behind the occiput and 

 somewhat broader; head very small and pointed, shorter than that 

 of related species; snout short; eye small; depth of caudal peduncle? 

 width of interorbital area, width of mouth, and depth of head like 

 that of A. affinis or A. insularum, the local species of the Santa 

 Barbara Islands; 39 rows of scales between occiput and spinous 

 dorsal; 10 rows between dorsals, 16 between spinous dorsal and anal, 

 5 between spinous dorsal and lateral stripe, and 4 rows between soft 

 dorsal and stripe. Membranes of dorsal fins naked; anal with a low 

 sheath of small, elongate scales; pectorals with a few fine scales on 

 basal portion of the rays. Head entirely scaled except space before 

 eye and edges of opercles. Teeth in single rows on the jaws; not 

 quite evenly forked, the inner prong in most cases being somewhat 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 45— No. 1999. 



575 



