74. SCOMBRID^ EUTHYNNUS. 429 



strongly keeled, broader than deep. Corselet indistinct. Scales rather 

 large. Pectoral reaching beyond second dorsal and anal, inserted a 

 little below level of pui)il, its base a little wider than the large eye; 

 ventrals short. Head 3^; depth 3J. D. XIV-II, 12- VIII; A. II, 12- 

 VII. L. 3 feet ; weight 15-20 pounds. In all warm seas, in the open 

 ocean ; abundant in summer in the Mediterranean and about the Santa 

 Barbara Islands; occasional on our Atlantic coast. 



{Scomber alaiuvga Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1788, 1330, misprint for cilalonga, fide Cuv. & Val. : 

 Thyniuis alalonfja Cuv. & Val. viii, 120: Thynnus pacificus Cuv. «& Val. viii, 133: 

 Thynnus albacora, alalonga, &nA pacificus Giinther, ii, 36.%, 36G : Orcynus pacificus CooTper, 

 Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1863, 75: Orcynus gernio LUtkeu, Spolia Atlantica, 1880, 473.) 



a. Pectoral fins comparatively short, not reacliing beyond the end of the sjiinous dor- 

 sal. (Tunnies.) 



677. ©. thynnus (Linn.) Poey. — Tunny; Horse Mackerel; Albicore. 



Dark blue above; below greyish with silvery spots. Mouth rather 

 large ; posterior margin of preopercle somewhat shorter than inferior. 

 Eye small. Dorsal and anal falcate; caudal very widely forked ; pec- 

 torals reaching nearly to end of spinous dorsal. Head 3.^ in length ; 

 depth 4. D. XIV-I, 13-lX; A. I, 12-VIII. North Atlantic, on both 

 coasts; the largest of the Scomhridce, reaching a length of 10 feet or 

 more and a weight of half a ton. 



{Scomber thynnus Liinu. Syst. Nat.: Thynnns scciindo-clorsalis fitorer, Fish. Mass. 6.^: 

 Tliynnus thynnus Giinther, ii, 3G2 : Tnynnus vuhjaris C. &V. viii, 58: Thynnusbrachyp- 

 terus and coretta Giinther, ii, 363.) 



21§.— KUTI1Y;\]VUS Liitken. 

 Little Tunnies. 



{Thynnus Liitken : Thynnichthys Giglioli ; both names preoccupied.) 

 (Liitken MSS. in Epist. Feb. 1881: type Thynnus thunnina C. &. V.) 



This genus differs from Orcymis, according to Liitken*, "(1) in the 

 absence of teeth on the vomer ; (2) by the complete absence of scales 

 outside of the corselet, while in the Orcyni of the same size the 

 skin is covered with small scales; the limits of the corselet in the 

 Tunny and Albicore are obscure, so that it cannot properlj^ be said 

 that they have distinct corselets; and (3) by an important osteological 

 character, namely the peculiar development, in the form of a net-work or 

 trellis, of a portion of the abdominal part of the backbone, between the 

 vertebrce proper and the haimapophyses. This organization is common 

 to Th. thunnina {alliteratns) and Th. pclamys, and is found modified in 



* Spolia AllanUea, 1880, 596. 



