43 8 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



rather large, inserted below margin of opercle, and about 1.5 times farther from origin 

 of anal than from tip of mandible. 



Color. Pale in alcohol. Side with a whitish band (no doubt silvery in life) about 

 half as broad as eye. Upper surface of head brownish posteriorly, with rather large 

 dusky dots; dusky dots on margin of snout medianly and on mandible anteriorly; 

 median line of back also with scattered dusky dots; dusky points on base of caudal 

 forming an oblique dark crossline and extending onto outer rays of fin; base of anal 

 with a row of dark spots, with fine punctulations on the fin, chiefly near the margin. 



Size. This species belongs to a group of herrings that attains a small size, few 

 exceeding a length of 1 50 mm (6 in.). The known specimens of cubanus are all small 

 (apparently immature). A specimen of the closely related Pacific A^. tropicus, which 

 seemingly is mature, is 66 mm SL or about 77 mm TL (3.1 in.), the caudal fin 

 broken. It may be conjectured, therefore, that N. cubanus attains a length of only about 

 75— 100 mm (3—4 in.). 



Range. Known only from the type locality, Havana, Cuba. 



Reference : 



Neoopisthopterus cubanus Hildebrand, Smithson. misc. Coll., IIO {<)), 1948: 7, figs. 3 and 4 (orig. descr.; type 

 local. Havana, Cuba; type USNM 143569; cf. N. tropicus of the Pacific). 



Genus Chirocentrodon Giinther 1868 



CMrocentrodon Giinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., 7, 1868: 463; genotype by monotypy, Chirocentrodon taeniatus 

 Giinther equals Pellona bleekeriana Poey. Myers, Copeia, 1929: I; Medipellona a synonym. Breder, 

 Copeia, 1942: 134; relationships. 



Generic Synonym; 



Medipellona Jordan and Scale, BuU. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv., 67 (i i), 1926: 417; genotype by original designa- 

 tion, Pellona bleekeriana Poey. 



Characters. Body slender, strongly compressed; ventral outline anteriorly much 

 more strongly convex than dorsal outline. Bony scutes rather strong, about 24-28, the 

 chest and abdomen with a sharp keel. Mouth oblique, with moderately projecting 

 lower jaw. Teeth on jaws, vomer, palatines, pterygoids, and tongue; each jaw (in adults) 

 with two or more canines anteriorly. Gill rakers few, about 14—18 on lower limb 

 of first arch. Dorsal fin small, with about 14—16 rays. Anal fin long, beginning in 

 advance of origin of dorsal, with about 39—43 rays. Pelvic fin very small, with 6 

 rays. Vertebrae about 44 or 45. 



Remarks. This genus is characterized by the elongated and strongly compressed 

 body with a strongly convex ventral outline anteriorly, the vomerine teeth, the canines 

 anteriorly in each jaw, and the long anal fin beginning in front of the dorsal. 



Discussion. Chirocentrodon generally has been placed in the family Clupeidae, but 

 Jordan and Scale {y^: 4.1 y), who evidently considered Chirocentrodon taeniatus Giinther 

 distinct from Pellona bleekeriana Poey (which has been disproved), erected a new genus 



