39. ENGRAULIDID^. 271 



126.— DOROSOITIA Kafuiesque. 

 Gizzard Shad. 



(ChaiovHsus Cuvicr, 1829.) 



(Rafinosque, Iclith. Oh. 1820, 39: type Dorosoma notaia R.if. = r/»jjm hetcrura Ritf.) 



Cliiuacters of the family, with the addition that the last ray of the 

 dorsal is prolonged and filiform as in Opisthonema and Megalojys. {nopn-.^ 

 a lance; (rwim^ body ; in allusion to the form of the body in the young.) 



451. D. cepediaiiUBll (Lc S.) Gill. — Gizzard Shad ; Ilklorij Shad. 



Silvery; bluish above; young with a round dark spot at the shoulder; 

 tips of ventrals and edge of anal often dusky. Body deep, compressed, 

 the back elevated in the adults. Dorsal about median, its filamentous 

 ray about as long as head, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Caudal 

 widely forked, the lower lobe the longer. Head 4^ ; depth 2|. Eye 4 J 

 in head. D. 12; A. 31; Lat. 1. 5G; L. transv. 23; scutes 17+12. L. 15 

 inches. Cape Cod to Mexico; abundant southward, entering all rivers, 

 and permanently resident (''var. heterurum^^} everywhere in the IMissis- 

 sippi Valley in the larger streams; also introduced into Lake IMicliigan 

 and Lake Erie, and land-locked in ponds from Kew Jersey to iSrel)raska 

 and Texas. A handsome fish, of no value as food. 



{Megalops cepediana Lo Snonr, Joiirn. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1817, 361 : ClinlovssuN 

 ccpedianun Giintlier, vii, 409: Clupea hetcrura Raf. Amer. Mouth. Mag. 1818, 354: 

 Chato'tsHus eUlpticus Kirtlaud, Bost. Joiirn. Nat. Hist, iv, 235.) 



Family XXXIX— ENGRAULIDID^. 



[The Anchoi'ies.) 



Body elongate, more or less compressed, covered with thin, cycloid 

 scales. Head compressed. Mouth extremely large, nearly horizontal, 

 usually overlapped by a pointed, compressed, pig-lilce snout. Clape 

 very wide, the maxillary very long and slender, formed of about three 

 l)ieces, extending backward far behind the eye; in some genera, nnich 

 beyond the head. Premaxillaries not protractile, very small, firmly 

 joined to the maxillaries. Teeth small, variously arranged, usually fine 

 and even, in a single row in each jaw. Eye large, well forward, so that 

 tlic snout is very short. Preorbital narrow. Opercles little developed, 

 membranaceous. Gill-rakers long and slender. Branchiostegals slender, 

 7-14 in number. Gill-membranes separate or joined, free from the isth- 

 mus. Pseudobranchiic present. No lateral line. Belly rounded or weakly 



