in height rapidly and is more or less sickle-shaped^ while the more 

 posterior portion decreases in height graduallyo The pectoral fins 

 are well developed, their length being lol times the body depth. 

 The ventral fins are shortj, their length never exceeding that of 

 the pectoral fins. The first anal fin is also well-developed, but 

 its posterior rays are generally short. The second dorsal fin and 

 the second anal fin are roughly the same shape and size and are 

 located directly opposite each other., Both lobes of the caudal fin 

 are narrov^j. and the angle between them is greats 



Both jaws have rasp=lilce teethp but the development of the 

 palatine teeth is poor and they cover only a small area. The gill 

 filaments are long and slendero The centra of the vertebrae are 

 longj and the neural spines are also longr The neural spines of the 

 abdominal vertebrae generally have their anterior and posterior edges 

 somewhat roundedj their posterior tips are sharply pointed,, and they 

 are somewhat foliate in shape o 



The dorsal surface is dark purple in coiorj, and the belly is 

 silvery-whitec There are more than 10 clears vertical cobalt stripes 

 on the sides of the body. The first dorsal fin is of a bright cobalt 

 cclorj and there are sometimes numerous dark blue spots on the lower 

 part of its highest portion,, The other fins are generally a dark 

 blue in colore The flesh is of the so-called ''spearfish-color"£i and 

 is delicious when eaten rawo 



This species is brcadljr distributed south of the northeast 

 coast region of HonshiTo In the area in which the Kuroshio originates ^ 

 this species is next to the white marlin in terms of numbers „ The 

 peak of the spawning season for this species in Formosan waters is 

 Mayo 



These fish attain a body length of 3,000 millimeters and a 

 weight of 100 kilograms ^ howeverp ordinarily fish of 40 to 60 kilo= 

 grams are most commono 



Kallkia formosana Nakamura 



Closely resembles Kc mitsukurii in formo In this specieSj, how^ 

 ever J the pectoral fins are shorter and the rays posterior to the 

 middle part of the first dorsal fin are longero The length of the 

 pectoral fins is roughly Oc85 times the body depths The rays of the 

 middle part of the first dorsal fin are somewhat longer than l/2 the 

 body depthe Consequently^ the profile of the first dorsal fin some- 

 what resembles that of Tetrapturus angustirostriS c 



A species very closely resembling this one has been reported from 

 the Hawaiian area by Jordan and Evermanno They assigned this species 

 to the genus Tetrapturus on the basis of the form of the first dorsal 



61 



