CÜMP.URATI\E STUDY OF SCOMBROID FLSTIES. 30I 



we peel off the skin, the colominp; is mostly lost, jind only n, thin pile Liyer 

 of pJRinent is found a,l>ove the a(lip:)se layer of the l»dy. Soinetiices the 

 ln>lly of bouit<33 is sooty brown. Fishermen believe that such fishes romjiined 

 on tlie muddy bottom a long time. In a snmll specimen of Kafmaconm 

 jjclcimis, ca. 20 cm long, I fjund 5 faint ti-ansverse bands near the lateral 

 medium line, besides the longitudinal bands. Those h'ansvei-se bands are 

 cidled by fishermen bands of the sam-el-ty^X), and when thes3 bands appeal* 

 f)n tlie side of tlie fish, they ai-e greatly excited to bite so that we can 

 anticipate a gi"eat catch. Tn immatm"e bonitos ca 30 cm long, longitudinal 

 bauds are more numerous tluxn in tlie adult, the auxilL-iry bands being found 

 near the Literal median line. In immature sp2cimens of Euihynnm yaito, ca 

 13 cm long, we find alx)ut eight transverse bands, crossing down the lateml 

 line. These bands jire darker and bend a little backward at the dorsal part 

 alxjve the lateral line. In a specimen ca 19 cm long there nve atxjut thirteen 

 ti'ansverso bands. The coiu-se of the doi'sal part of the bands above the 

 literal line now nearly coincides with the boimdary line tetwcen myotomes. 

 Specimens of such size have one to three dark spots at the pectoral region. 



The spinous dorsal, caudal, and the axial side of the pecbirals are gener.iUy 

 bliickish. Ventrals and the nna\ are pale coloured or nearly colourless. In 

 the Cybiidje the spinous dorsal is generally black, but in immature forms of 

 some seerfishes it is colourless at the posterior poition. In G;imnosarda (fig. 

 37) the tip of the second doi-sal and the anal is colora-less. In tlij Plecosiei 

 tlie first dorsal is wiished witli black at the margin. It Ls remarkable that fins 

 ai"e more or less yellowish in tunnies ; but that coloiu" never appears in the 

 fins of seerfishes and bonitos. The yellow colour is especially conspicuous iu 

 Parathminus mehacJd and Neothunmis niacropia-us ; but not conspicuous in 

 Thunnm germo and Neothunmis varus. 



He.\d. 



Generally speaking the head is large, one fifth of the total length of the 

 bixly in the Scombridse, one sixth in the Cybiida\ and one foiu-th in the 

 Plecostei. The length of the head is generally more or less longer than the 

 height of the body, even iu the case of tunnies and bonitos. Therefore it is 

 very remarkable tluit tlic head of Ci/bium Tcoreanum is 1] times the height 



