REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [68] 



Family LXXXIV.— SCOMBRID^. (74) 

 237.— SCOMBER Linuacus. C213) 

 $ Vnevmatophorus Jordan & Gilbert. 



763. Scomber colias' Gmcliii. En. N. S. P. C. (667, 6676.) 



$ Scomber. 



764. Scomber scombrua LiiiiKuiis. N. 8. O. Eu. (668) 



238.— AUXIS Olivier. (214) 



765. Auxis thazard Lacdpede. W. N. (Ace.) O. (669) 



239.-SCOIVIBEROMORtJS Lac6peae. (215) 



766. Scomberomonis concolor Lockinytou. C. (670) 



767. Scomberomorus maculatus Mltchill. N. S. P. (671) 



768. Scomberomorus regalis BIocli. W. (672) 



769. Scomberomorus cavalla' Cuvier. W. S. (673) 



240.— ACANTHOCYBIUM3 Gill. 



770. Acanthocybium solandri Cuv. & Yal. W. O. 



fe provided with a small, deeply forked caudal fiu. The ventral fins are represented 

 ■fey a pair of scale-like appendages. A single species ; pelagic. (yJeffz?, scale; Ttovi, 

 foot.) 



Lepid02>us caudatus. Scabbard-fish. For description, see Giinther II, 344. Pelagic; 

 a specimen taken by John Xantus at Cape St. Lncas. 



' It is probable that Scomhei' pneumatophorus is identical with Scomber colias. 



2This species was first indicated as Cybiiim cavaUa Cuvier, R^gue Animal, 1829. It 

 is the king-fish of the Florida Keys, a food fish of the highest importance. For a de- 

 tailed account of the species oi Scomberomorus see Meek and Newland, Proc. Ac. Nat. 



Sci. Phiia., 1884. 



=* Acanthocybium Gill. 



(Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862; type Cybiumsara Bennett.) 



This genns is allied to Scomberomorus, but shows several of the peculiarities of the 

 sword-fishes, indicating a transition toward the Xiphiidce. The head is very long, 

 slender, and pointed, the mandible being longer than the upper jaw, the jaws forming 

 a sort of beak ; cleft of the mouth extending to below the eye ; the posterior part of 

 the maxillary covered by the preorbital; both jaws armed with a close series of 

 trenchant teeth, ovate or truncate ; their edges finely serrate ; villiform teeth on vomer 

 and palatines ; gills formed as in Xiphias, th^'w laminte foi'ming a net-work ; scales 

 .small, scarcely forming a corselet; those along the base of dorsal enlarged and 

 lanceolate; keel strong; caudal spinous dor.sal very long, its spines abont 25 in 

 number. 



Very large mackerels, pelagic ; probably a single species widely distributed; mo.st 

 abnndant about the Florida Straits. (^Kai'Oa, spine ; Cybium.) 



Acanthociibium solandri. Peto ; Wahoo ; Barracotla. 



Iron gray, dark above; jialer below; no di.stinet markings; fins colored like the 

 body ; eye 5 in snout ; gape more than half length of head ; iiremaxillaries in front 

 prolonged in a sort of beak which is nearly half length of snout ; teeth .somewhat 

 irregular, the posterior much largest. Dorsal spine mostly subetjual, the highest, 

 behind the middleof the fin, 5j in head ; dorsal and anal lobes low. Caudal lobes short, 

 very abrujttly spreading, their length about f head. Pectoral not quite half head. 

 D. XXIV-1,12-IX; A. 1, 12-IX. Length 4 to s feet. Tropical seas; not rare about 

 Cuba, where it spawns; north to Key West. 



{Cybium solandri Cuv. &. Val.,VIll. H31, 192; Cybium vara Bennett, Becchey's 

 Voyage, Zoology, 1849, 63 ; Cybium sara Giinther, II, 373 ; Cybium 2)etus Poey, Memorias 

 Cuba, II, 234, 1860; Acanthocybium petus Poey, Enum. Pise. Cubens.. 1875, 73. Liitkeu, 

 Spolia Atlantica, 1880,481-597; Cybium veranyi Doderlein, Giorn. Sci. Natur. Econ. 

 Palermo, 1872. 



