822 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



Family CVIII. SPHYR^NID^. 



(The Barracudas.) 



Body elongate, subterete, covered with small cycloid scales. Head very 

 long, pointed, pike-like, scaly above and on sides. Mouth horizontal, 

 large. Jaws elongate, the lower considerably projecting ; upper Jaw non- 

 protractile, its border formed by the premaxillaries, behind which are the 

 broad maxillaries ; large, sharp teeth of unequal size on both jaws and 

 on palatines ; none on the vomer ; usually a very strong, sharp canine 

 near the tip of the lower jaw. Opercular bones without spines or serra- 

 tures. Gill openings wide, the gill membranes not united, free from the 

 isthmus; gill rakers very short or obsolete. Branchiostegals 7 ; gills 4, a 

 slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchiw well developed. Airbladderlarge, 

 bifurcate anteriorly ; many pyloric coeca. Lateral line well developed, 

 straight. Pectoral fins short, placed in or below the line of the axis of 

 the body ; ventrals I, 5, abdominal, in iidvance of the middle of the body; 

 first dorsal over ventrals, of 5 rather stout spines ; second dorsal remote 

 from first dorsal, similar to anal and opposite to it; caudal fin forked. 

 VertebriT 24. First superior pharyngeal not present. Second, third, and 

 fourth separate, with teeth. Lower pharyngeals separate. A single 

 genus of about 20 species ; carnivorous pike-like fishes, often of large size, 

 active and voracious, inhabiting warm seas, many of them highly valued 

 as food. {Sphyrwitidw, Gunther, Cat., 11, 334-341, 1860.) 



369. SPHYR^NA* (Artedi) Bloch & Schneider. 

 (Barracudas.) 



Sphi/rxtia (Artedi) Bloch & Schxeidkr, Syst. Ichth., 109, ISOl, (sphi/rxna). 

 Sphierina, Swainson, Class'n Fishes, ii, 175, 1839, {mropa'a := sphi/rierm) . 



Characters of the genus Included above, {ai^vpaiva, the ancient name, 

 "hammer fish," from mvpa, a hammer.) 



a. Scales large, 75 to 85 in lateral line; origin of first dorsal behind root of ventrals, over last 

 third or fourth of pectorals; body compressed; lower jaw with fleshy tip; maxillary reach- 

 ing past front of orbit ; teeth large. rrciDA, 1199. 

 aa. Scales moderate, 110 to 130 in lateral line; body subterete or compressed. 



h. Pectorals reaching front of spinous dorsal ; maxillary reaching front of orbit , origin of 

 spinous dorsal behind root of ventrals. 

 c. Lower jaw with fleshy tip; teeth very strong; scales in lateral line 110. ensis, 1200. 

 cc. Lower jaw without fleshy tip; teeth strong; lateral line 1.30. guachancjio, 1201. 

 66. Pectorals not reaching front of first dorsal; maxillary not reaching front of orbit. 



<f. Eye large; teeth small; interorbital .area convex; mcrlian ridge of frontal groove 



not well developed. picudilla, 1202. 



lid. Eye small; teeth larger: interorbital space flatfish; median ridge of frontal groove 



prominent. boreai.is, 1203. 



aaa. Scales very small, 150 to 170 in lateral line; origin of spinous dorsal well beliind tip of 



pectorals, before the vertical from root uf ventrals; lower jaw with fleshy tip. Body 



slender, subterete. 



* For a detailed account of the American Bpecies of this geuus Bee Meek & Newland, Proc. Ac. 



Nat. Sci. Phila., 1884, 67, et seq. 



