SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES, 161 



138. HYPORHAMPHUS ROBERTI (Ouvier & Valenciennes). 

 "Red-billed Gar"; Half-beak. 



Ilemirliamphus roberti Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xix, 24, 1846; Cayenne. Jordan» 



1886,26; Beaufort. 

 Hemirhamphus unifascialus. Yarrow, 1877, 214; Beaufort. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 383; Beaufort. 

 Hyporhamphus roberti, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 721, pi. cxvii, fig. 312; Beaufort, etc. Linton, 190.5, 358; 



Beaufort. 

 Hyporhamphus unifasciatus, Jenkins, 1887, 86; Cape Lookout. 



Diagnosis. — Dorsal and ventral outlines similar; depth contained 12 or 13 times in fotal 

 length and 9 times in length without lower jaw; head with lower jaw contained 2.3 times in 

 total length, head without lower jaw 4.3 times; lower jaw (shorter in young) .25 total length; 

 premaxillary plate (upper jaw) rather broader than long; eye large, more than .25 length of 

 head without lower jaw; scales in lateral series 54; dorsal and anal fins opposite and of the same 

 size, posterior rays not produced; dorsal rays 14 to 16; anal rays 15 to 17; caudal moderately 

 forked; pectorals short, about equal to postorbital part of head; ventrals small, but little 

 longer than diameter of eye, inserted about half-way between gill-opening and posterior end of 

 dorsal base. Color: green above, silvery white on sides, a bright silvery longitudinal stripe 

 narrower than eye; scales of back dark-edged; anterior dorsal and anal rays and tips of caudal 

 blackish; filamentous tip of lower jaw red; peritoneum black. (Named for Mons. Robert, a 

 Frenchman who collected fish for Valenciennes at Cayenne.) 



Fig. 63. Half-beak. Hijporhauiphus roberti. 



Inhabits both coasts of North and South America, and is common on our 

 Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It appears to visit the North Carolina coast in spring 

 and remains throughout the summer. In Beaufort Harbor it is abundant about 

 shoals and sandy islands. Yarrow, who gives it the name of red-billed gar, has 

 the following note regarding it in that region: 



Abundant during the latter part of August and entire month of September. This species 

 appears to feed along the beach in shallow water, and may be readily taken at night with a 

 torch and scoop net. It is also found in the channel and along tlie edges of shoals where blue- 

 fish congregate, this fish devouring enormous numbers. 



On April 23, 1904, the writer caught about 50 specimens, 7 to 10 inches long, 

 in two seine-hauls on Bird Shoal, Beaufort Harbor, in company with gars, silver- 

 sides, anchovies, mullets, pin-fish, spots, etc. In August, 1899, many examples 

 3 to 4 inches long were cast up on Shackleford Beach near Beaufort Inlet. 



The food of this and other half-beaks consists almost exclusively of green 

 algge. A few small crustaceans are sometimes found in the stomach, but these 

 are probably eaten incidentally with the seaweed. 



The fish reaches a length of a foot or a little more, and is quite palatable, but 

 is only sparingly eaten in the United States. 



Genus HEMIRHAMPHUS Cuvier. Half-beaks ; Balaos. 



Similar to Hyporhamphus, but the body stouter, the sides more compressed 

 and flat, the dorsal larger than the anal and inserted in advance of it, the ven- 



