THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 373 



with a prominent lateral keel and two smaller ones on base of fin, 

 depth of peduncle 11 to 14 in head; head compressed, convex above; 

 snout long, pomted, 2.9 to 3.1 in head; eye 6.4 to 7.5 in head; 

 interorbital 3.3 to 3.9; mouth moderately large, slightly oblique, 

 terminal; maxillary about half width of eye, scarcely reaching vertical 

 from posterior margin of eye, 2.05 to 2.15 in head; teeth in jaws in a 

 single series, compressed at base, curved inward, pointed, generally 

 a pair of somewhat enlarged teeth on lower jaw anteriorly, palatines 

 with a series of small teeth; gill rakers moderately slender, a little 

 shorter than eye, 16 to 18 on lower and 6 to 8 on upper limb of first 

 arch; lateral line wavy; scales minute, somewhat enlarged, though 

 embedded, in region of pectoral, forming a more or less definite corselet ; 

 first dorsal composed of very slender spines, the anterior ones 

 moderately elevated, the posterior ones extending little above dorsal 

 groove, the second or third the longest, equal to or a little longer than 

 snout, origin of fin a little in advance of pectoral, its distance from tip 

 of snout 2.9 to 3.0 in length; second dorsal moderately elevated 

 anteriorly, the last ray enlarged, origin of fin about equidistant from 

 origin of first dorsal and sixth finlet; anal origin about under last 

 ray of second dorsal; ventral moderately small, 3.0 to 3.5 in head; 

 pectoral moderately pointed, reaching margin of corselet to rather 

 more than an eye's diameter beyond it in some specimens, 1.85 to 2.2 

 in head. 



Color dark blue above, generally with metallic reflections ; the color 

 of back gradually merging along middle of side, into the silvery gray 

 of the lower parts; upper part of side with four to six more or less 

 definite oblique black stripes running upward and backward, the 

 stripes rarely nearly horizontal, not always uniform in position and 

 slope on both sides of the same fish; fins more or less dusky; ventral 

 and anal notably lighter than the other fins; ventral often white, at 

 least at base, with an area of a similar color surrounding them. 



The Mission supplied 13 specimens, 355 to 685 mm. (306 to 585 

 mm. to base of caudal) long, which are from the Gulf of Guayaquil, 

 near Cabo Blanco; Lobos de Afuera Bay; Guanape Island; San 

 Lorenzo Island; Pachacamac Island; and San Galldn Island. 



Bonitos are reported by the Mission (1943, p. 248) as comprising 

 the greater part of the catch of food fishes landed in Peru. As only 

 one specimen of the second species, S. velox, was included among the 

 specimens preserved, it seems probable that the commercial catch 

 consists chiefly of S. chilensis. The fish, according to the report, are 

 caught mostly in gill nets and with trolling lines. The largest catches 

 were said to have been made between Talara and Ilo, and the fish 

 were reported as most numerous from January to June. Large schools 

 were observed at several different times and places, but always in 



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