NO. 1499. THE HERRINGS OF JAPAN— JORDAN AND HERRE. 623 



pleniental bone. Opercle truncate behind. Pseudobranchiffi very 

 large. Gill-rakers line and flexible, very close set, rather long. Bones 

 of gill-rakers flexible. Gill arches all connected b}- membrane. Lat- 

 eral line well developed. Scales tirm, cycloid, with strongly marked 

 longitudinal stria3. Scales rather large, hard, firm, enameled, becom- 

 ing bon}^ when drj^, used 1)}" the Indians for ornamental work. Dorsal 

 inserted somewhat nearer snout than base of caudal^ before ventrals, 

 its first ray falcate, its last produced in a short filament, longer than 

 pupil; base of fin with a large scaly sheath; pectoral and ventral with 

 scal}^ axillary appendage; anal similar to dorsal but much smaller; 

 pectorals and ventrals rather small; caudal very long, forked to the 

 base, its lobes subequal, straight; base of fin with small scale; ventrals 

 somewhat falcate. Color greenish above, the sides l)rilliantly silvery, 

 fins more or less darkened; inside of ventrals and pectorals blackish. 

 Length 2 to 5 feet. Pacific and Indian oceans, on sandy shores, north 

 to the Hawaiian Islands and to Nagasaki; not seen by us in Japan, but 

 almost everywhere common in the tropical Pacific. 



Family V. DOROSOMATID^. 



Body short and deep, strongly compressed, covered with thin, decid- 

 uous, cycloid scales. Belly compressed to an edge, which is armed 

 with bony serratures. Head naked, short, rather small. Mouth 

 small, inferior, oblique, overlapped by the blunt snout; no teeth; 

 maxillary narrow and short, with a single supplemental bone, not 

 extending to opposite middle of eye, and forming but a small portion 

 of lateral margin of upper jaw; mandible short and deep, its rami 

 enlarged at base; premaxillaries not protractile. Gill-rakers slender, 

 exceedingly numerous, not very long, similar on all the arches. Gill 

 membranes not united, free from the isthmus; branchiostegals about 

 6; pseudobranchiii? large. An adipose eyelid. No lateral line. Dor- 

 sal fin about midway of the body, usually behind ventrals. Pectorals 

 and ventrals moderate, each with an accessory scale. Anal very long 

 and low; caudal forked. No adipose fin. Vertebrie 49. Stomach 

 short, nuiscular, like the gizzard of a fowl. Mud-eating fishes of the 

 coasts and rivers of warm regions, of little value as food. The family 

 is very close to the Clupeidfe, the distinguishing characters being not 

 of great importance. 



KEY TO GENERA. 



o. Dorsal fin with its last ray prolonged and filamentous. 

 b. Mouth large; gillrakers very long; anal fin very low Konosirus, 6 



