444 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



227.— SERIOLA Cuvier. 

 Amber-Jishes. 



{Halatractus Gill.) 

 (Cuvier, Regne Auim. ed. 2, ii, 1829: type Caranx dumerili Risso.) 



Body oblong, moderately compressed, not elevated. Occiput and breast 

 not trenchant. Head usually more or less conical, not very blunt. 

 Mouth comparatively large, with broad bands of villiform teeth on both 

 jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatines; a bro.id, strong, supplemental maxil- 

 illary bone; premaxillaries protractile. Scales small. Lateral line 

 scarcely arched, forming a keel on the caudal peduncle, not armed with 

 bony plates. Sides of head with scales. First dorsal with about seven 

 low spines, connected by membrane ; second dorsal very long, elevated 

 in front ; anal similar to the soft dorsal but not nearly so long, shorter 

 than the abdomen, preceded by two very small free spines, which dis- 

 appear in old fishes; no finlets; ventral fins very long; pectorals short 

 and broad. Gill-rakers moderate. Species of moderate or large size, 

 often gracefully colored; most of them valued as food-fishes. This 

 genus should i)robably be united to Naucrates. {Seriola^ the Italian 

 name of 8. dumerili.) 



701. S, lalandi Cuv. & Ya\.—Yenow-tail. 



Bright steel-blue above, sides dull silvery, an irregular yellowish 

 lateral band ; fins dusky yellowish green ; caudal dull yellow. Body 

 regularly fusiform, somewhat compressed, tapering to the sharp snout 

 and slender caudal peduncle. Maxillary reaching front of pupil. Mouth 

 not very large. Gill-rakers long and strong. Head naked, except on 

 the cheeks. Fius.scaleless. Caudal keel moderate ; caudal lobes nearly 

 equal. Spines of moderate development, the free anal spines disappear- 

 ing with age. Pectorals shorter than vontrals, which are half length of 

 head; longest dorsal ray f height of body. Pyloric coeca very numer- 

 ous. Head 4; depth 4. D. V to VII-I, 35; A. n-I,21. L. 3 feet. In 

 most warm seas; abundant in summer about the Santa Barbara Islands; 

 also occasional on the South Atlantic coast. An excellent food-fish. 



(Cuv. & Val. ix, 208, 1833; Giintlier, ii, 4G3: Seriola aureovittata Scblegel, Faun. 

 Japau. Pol as. 115. pi. 62.) 



702. S. rivoliann. Cuv. & Val. — Eoch Salmon. 



Oolor uniform ; an oblique black baud from the nape through the eye 

 to the j)reorbital. Snout conical, 1.^ times the diameter of the eye. Max- 

 illary not reaching the vertical from centre of pupil. Back, neck, and 



