Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 



17s 



Description. Proportional dimensions in per cent of standard length based on 

 7 specimens, the counts based on many more. As the state of preservation is not very 

 good, some of the proportions may not be entirely true. 



Body: depth 19.5-23.0. 

 Head: length 23.8-26.2. 

 Snout: length 3.35-4.16. 

 Eye: diameter 6.7-8.0. 

 Postorbital: distance 1 2.9-1 3.7. 

 Maxillary: length 1 7.7-1 9.0. 

 Mandible: length 1 5.8-1 7.6. 



Anal fin: length of base 23.4—25.6. 

 Pectoral fin: length 1 7.8-1 8.8. 



Scales: ca. 35—40. 

 Gill rakers: 13 or 14 + 17-19. 

 Fin rays: dorsal 14— 16; anal 25—27; pec- 

 toral 15—17 (most frequently 16). 

 Vertebrae: 42 (2 specimens). 



Body moderately slender, strongly compressed, its depth 4.35—5.1 in SL. Head 

 3.8-4.2 in SL, its depth nearly equal to its length without snout. Snout short, pro- 

 jecting about half of its length beyond mandible, 6.0-7.0 in head. Eye 3.2-3.7. Post- 

 orbital 1.75-2.0 in head. Maxillary bluntly pointed, its upper margin rounded, 

 reaching somewhat beyond joint of mandible, 1.2— 1.4 in head. Mandible 1.4-1.6. 

 Cheek about as long as eye, its posterior angle broad, about 50°. 



- Dorsal fin with longest rays reaching to, and occasionally beyond, tip of last ray if 

 deflexed, its origin generally a little nearer to base of caudal than to middle of eye. Anal 

 with origin generally under middle of dorsal, its base 3.9-4.25 in SL. Pelvic reaching 

 only about halfway to anal, inserted equidistant between origin of anal and base of 

 pectoral, or slightly nearer the former. Pectoral falcate, reaching nearly to base of 

 pelvic, 1. 3-1. 4 in head. Axillary scale of pectoral pointed, about 66 "/o of length 

 of fin, 2.5 in head. 



Color. Old specimens in alcohol, brownish silvery. A prominent silvery lateral 

 band present, about as wide as eye. Back with dark dots, in more or less distinct 

 longitudinal rows. Base of anal with black dots ; caudal with dark dots and with a dark 

 margin. 



Range. Known only from the type material from Vigia, Brazil, collected in 1865 

 or 1866 by the Thayer Expedition of Harvard University. [Stieler's Atlas lists the 

 name Vigia for two places In Brazil, one at the mouth of Rio Para (Tocantins), the other 

 well inland on Rio Jequitinhonha in the Province of Minas Gerals.-Y.H.o.]. 



Synonyms and References: 



Anchoviella mitchilli Jordan and Seale, Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 6^, 1926: 405 (descr., distr., MCZ 



18004). 

 Anchoa fectoralis Hildebrand, Bull. Bingham oceanogr. Coll., 5(2), 1943: 52, fig. 18 (orig. descr.; type local. 



Vigia, Brazil; type MCZ 35276). 



