Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 423 



auadromous. Very close to Pomolobiis, as also to Chipea, and perhaps the 

 three should be reiiiiited. (C?Mj>f((, herring ; avorfoi;f, without teeth; this 

 genus being supposed to difter from Clupea by the absence of teeth.) 



a. Operclos conspicuously striate; side with a series of rouiul black spots on level of eye, these 



obsolete with ago; no teeth in jaws. California. ciERULEUs, fi87. 



aa. Opercles scarcely striate; sides without black spots; minute teeth on tongue and lower jaw. 



West Indian. pseudohispanicus, G88. 



687. CLUPANODON C.ERULEUS (Girard). 

 (C.4.Lii'0RNi.4. Sardine.) 



Head 4 ; depth 5. D. 14 ; A. 17 ; lateral line 53 ; scutes 18 + 14. Verte- 

 bras about 50. Body slender, subfusiform, slenderer and less compressed 

 than a herring, the back rather broad. Ventral serratures very weak. 

 Maxillary reaching nearly to middle of eye. Adipose eyelids present, 

 each covering nearly J of eye. Mandible little projecting, the tip 

 included. No te;eth in mouth, (iill rakers longer than eye, very slender 

 and numerous, close-set, some 50 or 60 on lower limb of arch. Opercle 

 truncate behind, the edge vertical, the upper half with conspicuous 

 branching tubes and striaj, the lower with about 7 long striie extending 

 downward and backward ; top of head with bony striie. A frill of 

 enlarged scales with dendritic strife about nape and shoulder. Insertion 

 of dorsal considerably nearer snout than base of caudal. Dorsal small, 

 its free edge concave; pectorals and ventrals with sheathing scales; 

 anal small and low, its last two rays enlarged, forming a sort of finlet. 

 Dark-bluish above; silvery below ; a series of round black spots on the 

 level of the eye, running backward, bounding the dark color of the back; 

 similar siualler spots above, forming lines along the rows of scales; these 

 spots sometimes obscure or wanting, especially in old examples ; tip of 

 lower jaw yellow; lower part of dorsal yellowish; peritoneum black. 

 Flesh darker than that of the herring and more oily. Length 12 inches. 

 Pacific Coast from Puget Sound to Magdalena Bay ; abundant on Cali- 

 fornia coast ; spawning in the sea. An excellent food-fish. It resembles 

 the European Sardine {Clupanodon jnlchardiis), but has no teeth, and the 

 belly is less strongly serrate. We have not been able to compare the 

 California Sardine with Cliq)anodon sagax* from Chili, (caruleus, blue,) 



Malelta cxmlea,f GiRARr>, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1854, 138, San Francisco. 

 AlansacaH/nnikii, Gill, Proc. A.C. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 281, California. 



Cltipea sciijax, Gu.NTHER, Cat., vii, 443, 1868; not of Jenyns;| Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 965, 

 1883. 



688. CLUPANODON PSEUDOHISPANICUS (Poey). 

 (Sardina de EspaNa, Bang.) 



Head 4; depth 3f to 4A ; eye 3|. D. 16; A. 16; scales about 45. Ver- 

 tebra3 46 to 48. Body slender, little compressed, the belly scarcely cari- 



* Very few species of shore flshea are, however, comtaion to the faunee of California and Chill, 



and as this sardine is not found on the intervening coast of Mexico, it is best to regard cierulea 

 as distinct from aaijax until positively shown to bo identical. 



•fTho name csentka is preoccupied in Chipea, but not in CliipanoJoii. 



tCliipeu sagojc, Jenyns, Zoiil. Beagle, Fishes, 134, 1842, Lima, San Lorenzo Island; Alosa 

 viitsica, Girard, U. S. Nav. Astr. Expcd., 240, 1855, Chili; Alosa jimbriala, Kneu i; Steindachneb, 

 S. A. K. Wiss. Wieu, 18GG, f. 15, Chili. 



