418 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



the rays all flat, broad and stiff, being partially ossified, althougli showing 

 the usual articulation ; upper rays of pectoral broader than the others. 

 One species known. (/Jw/z/So?, rhomb 5 -^itp^ hand.) 



660. K. OSteocllir (Cuvier) Gill. 



Light brown; underside of head, ventral line, part of ventrals and a 

 spot on pectorals pale. Mouth very small, maxillary not nearly reaching 

 to the line of the orbit. Disk very large, broader and rougher than in 

 Ucheneis remora, extending forwards beyond the tip of the snout. Cau- 

 dal fin emarginate, with rounded angles. Head 4§ in length; disk 2|; 

 width between pectorals 5. D. XVIII— 21 ; A. 20; P. 20. West Indies, 

 north to Cape Cod; parasitic on species of Tctrapturus. 



{Echencia osteochir Cuvier, Regue Aiiim : Echencis osteochir Giinther, ii, 381 : Echeneis 

 tetrapturorum Poey, Memorias, ii, 25G.) 



Family LXXI.— ELACATID^. 



{The Crab-eaters.) 



Body elongated, fusiform, subcylindrical, covered with very small, 

 smooth scales. Head rather broad, low, pike-like. Mouth rather wide, 

 nearly horizontal, the maxiUary about reaching front of eye; both 

 jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue with bands of short, sharp teeth; 

 lower jaw longest. Premaxillaries not protractile. First dorsal repre- 

 sented by about eight low, stout, equal, free spines, each spine depressi- 

 ble in a groove; soft dorsal long and rather low, somewhat falcate, sim- 

 ilar to and nearly opposite the anal; two weak anal spines, one of them 

 free from the fin; ventrals thoracic, I, 5; caudal fin forked; no caudal 

 keel; nofinlets; no sucking-disk; no air-bladder. Branchiostegals 7. 

 Pyloric cceca branched. Vertebrae more than 10 + 14. A single genus 

 with probably but one species, a large, strong, voracious fish, found in 

 all warm seas. {Scomhridce part, genus Elacate, Giinther, ii, 375.) 



20§.— EL.ACATE Cuvior. 



(Cuvier, Regue Anim. ed. 2d, 1829: type Elacale malabarica Cnv. ^^Gasterosteus 

 canadus L.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (;jAaxd->j, a spindle or an 

 arrow, from the form of the body.) 



661. E. Canada (Linn.) Gill. — Crab-cater ; Cobia. 



0\\XQ brown, sides with a distinct broad band of darker, and a less 

 distinct band above and below it; below silvery. Head much depressed. 

 Mouth moderate, the short maxillary reaching front of orbit. Pectorals 

 broad and falcate ; caudal deeply emarginate, the upper lobe slightly 



