77. STROMATEIDJE. 449 



late. Lateral line unarmed. Yentrals thoracic, 1, 5, sometimes depress- 

 ible in a deep groov^e in the abdomen. Dorsal tins separate ; the spines 

 usually feeble, connected by membrane. Soft dorsal long, sometimes 

 with Unlets; anal fin similar to soft dorsal, without free spines; caudal 

 peduncle slender, the fin widely forked. Pyloric cfEca numerous. Gen- 

 era 5 ; species about 10. Fishes of the tropical seas. 



(Scomiridw, group Xomcina Giiuther, ii, 387-392.) 



a. Cleft of mouth narrow ; veutnils received iu a deep groove iu the abdoinen. 



NOMEUS, 231. 

 231.— ]VOJ7aEl[JS Cuvier. 



(Cuvier, Rt'gue Anira. 1817 : tyjio Gobhts grovovii Gmelin.) 



Body oblong, rather compressed, covered with rather small cycloid 

 scales. Head fiaftish above; occipital crest little developed; cleft of 

 the mouth narrow. Teeth small, in a single series in the jaws; teeth 

 on the vonier and palatines. Pseudobranchiaj large. First dorsal with 

 10 or 11 spines ; second dorsal and anal very long, similar to each other, 

 without finlets ; anal fin with 3 rather strong spines, none of them free ; 

 caudal fin not deeply forked ; ventral fins long and broad, attached to 

 the belly by a membrane, depressible in a deep furrow in the abdomen. 

 Lateral line running high. Air-bladder i^resent. Pyloric coeca verj' 

 numerous. Vertebrae 10 + 25. Warm seas, {vopsh:;, pastor; early 

 travellers having compared the fish to a mullet, herder or hergcr iu 

 Dutch.) 



709. N. grooaovii (Gmel.) Gtbr. 



Brownish above, silvery below, the sides below with large round 

 brown spots; ventrals black, with silvery edgings; anal with 3 brown 

 spots. Maxillary reaching to below the front of the eye; ventrals 

 reaching front of anal, pectorals stdl further. D. X-I, 20; A. Ill, 

 20. Tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; north to 

 Florida. 



{Gohius gronovii Gmelin, Syst. Nat. 1788, 1203: Komcns mauriiii Cuv. & VaL ix, 243: 

 Gunther, ii, 387.) 



Family LXXVIL— STROMATEID^E. 



{The Broad Shiners.) 



Scombroid fishes, with the body compressed and more or less ele- 

 vated, covered with small or minute cycloid scales. Profdc anteriorly 

 blunt and rounded. Mouth small. Premaxillaries protractile or not. 

 Dentition feeble; no teeth on vomer or palatines; oesophagus armed 

 Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 10 29 



