116 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



102. ELOPS SAURUS Linnaeus. 

 "Sea Pike" ; "Horse Mackerel" ; Big- eyed Herring; Ten-pounder. 



Elops saurus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. x, 518, 1766;. Carolina Yarrow, 1877, 215; Beaufort. Jordan & 

 Gilbert, 1879, 384; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 410, pi. Ixvii, fig. 178. Linton, 1905. 352; 

 Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Form long, rather slender, cylindrical, the depth .16 to .20 total length; 

 head conical, flattened above, its length contained 4.16 to 4.20 times in total length; upper jaw 

 broad, maxillary extending far beyond eye; lower jaw included; eye .20 to .25 length of head; 

 scales small, 115 to 120 in lateral series, 36 in transverse series, lateral line straight; dorsal rays 

 20 or 21; anal rays 13. Color: bright silvery, greenish on back; bronze reflections on head; 

 dorsal and caudal light greenish brown, other fins tinged with pale yellow; all fins minutely 

 spotted with black, (saurus, lizard.) 



Fig. 37. Big-eyed Herring. Elops saurus. 



The big-eyed herring is widely distributed in both Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans, and is found along the Atlantic coast as far north as Massachusetts. It 

 occurs every year on the North Carolina coast, but is not common, at least at 

 Beaufort, where Yarrow recorded the fish, noting the local name of "sea pike", 

 and where Jordan and Gilbert reported it under the local name of "horse mack- 

 erel". A length of 3 feet is attained, but the average is under 2 feet. The 

 young are long and transparent, and undergo a metamorphosis like the eel before 

 attaining the adult form. The species has no food value, the flesh being dry 

 and bony. A specimen examined at Beaufort in August, 1901, had in its stom- 

 ach 6 large shrimp (Pencus). 



Family ALBULID^. The Lady-fishes. 



This family includes a single genus and species of rather large-sized marine 

 fishes, found in the warmer parts of all seas. The moderately long body is but 

 slightly compressed, the head is large, naked, and marked by prominent lines and 

 ridges; the snout overlaps the small mouth; the short maxillary has a supple- 

 mental bone which slips under the broad preorbital bone; the jaws and roof of 

 mouth have small teeth in bands; the large eye has a circular adipose lid; pseudo- 

 branchige are present; the gill-rakers are very short and rounded; the branchi- 

 ostegals are numerous; the gill-membranes are not connected and are free from 

 the isthmus; a lateral line is present; the pyloric coeca are numerous. 



