Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 949 



about 15, mostly of the open sea ; small fishes, rarely used as food 

 (Nomeina, Giiuther, Cat., ii, 387, 1860.) 



NOMEIN.K : 



a. Finlftts none. 



h. Ventrals very long and broad, longer than the pectorals; attached by a membrane to 

 the abdomen and depressible in a deep furrow; mouth narrow; teeth on jaws, 

 vomer, and palatines. Nomei'S, 431. 



hh. Ventrals moderate, much shorter than pectorals; snout ir flated. Psenes, 432. 



431. NOMEUS, Cuvier. 



Nomens,Cv\lEn, Regne Anim., Ed. i, 11, :^j15, 1817, {groiioi-ii). 



Body oblong, rather compressed, covered with rather small cycloid 

 scales. Head Hattish above ; occipital crest little developed; cleft of the 

 mouth narrow. Teeth small, in a single series in the jaws ; teeth on the 

 vomer and palatines. Pseudobranchije large. First dorsal with 10 or 11 

 spines; second dorsal and anal very long, similar to each other, without 

 finlets; anal fin with 3 rather strong spines, none of them free; caudal 

 fin not deeply forked ; ventral fins long and broad, attached to the belly 

 by a membrane, depressible in a deep farrow in the abdomen. Lateral 

 line running high. Air bladder present. Pyloric cceca very numerous. 

 Vertebriu 16 + 25. Small fishes of the warm seas, our species living com- 

 monly under the protection of the "Portuguese Man-of-War," swimming 

 freely among its poisoned tentacles. Goode A; IJean nuMition the capture 

 of 10 individuals under a single colony of this "Man-of-War." (ro/isL'^, 

 pastor ; early travelers having compared the fish to a mullet, harder or 

 berger in Dutch.) 



1347. NOMEUS GROXOVII (Gmelin). 



(Portuguese Man-of-War Fish ; Harder ; Pastor.) 



Head 3j ; depth 3*; eye 3i ; snout 4^; interorbital width 4^;. D. X-1, 

 26; A. Ill, 26. Body compressed, back and ventral line e<iually and gen- 

 tly arched. Maxillary reaching to below the front of tlie eye; ventrals 

 reaching front of anal,* 1;^ in head ; pectorals reaching past front of anal, 

 a little longer than head. Brownish above, silvery below, the sides below 

 with large round brown spots ; cheeks and opercles silvery ; ventrals 

 black, with silvery edgings ; anal with 3 brown spots ; caudal with brown 

 spots ; pectorals brown above, white below. Tropical parts of the Atlantic 

 and Indian oceans in rather deep water, swimming near the surface, very 

 abundant in the Sargasso Sea, common north to Florida and Bermuda, 

 occasionally farther ; Woods Hole, Mass. (Barton A. Bean.) Also recorded 

 by Eigenniann from Panama. (Named for Lawrence Theodore Gronow or 

 Gronovius, a senator of Leyden and one of the ablest ichthyologists con- 

 temporary with Linna3us.) 



Gohiiis gro7iovii, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., xiii, 1205, 1788, Tropical America; after Gronow. 

 Nomeits gronovii, Gi'NTHER, Cat., ii, 387, 1860; Jordan it Giliiert, Syiiop.sip, 449, 1883. 



*The large fan-shaped ventrals arc used in support in resting on the bottom. In swimmiDg 

 they are usually closed in their groove. Qoode & Bean. 



