FAMILY SCOMBRIDZ — CARANX. 121 
Color. Back bluish, with a resplendent golden yellow on the sides. Ventrals, anal and 
caudal wax-yellow ; the tips of the latter dusky. A dark round spot on the posterior margin 
of the opercle ; another on the inner base of the pectoral, and occasionally a short black ver- 
tical bar across the middle of the pectoral fin. Dorsals brownish above. Chin satin-white. 
Trides golden, varied with black. 
Length, 9:0. Transverse diameter, 1°2. 
Einirays, At. 120s, bs 20s Noe bin AL clans ©. 19) 4. 
This is perhaps one of the most gorgeously beautiful fishes to be found in our waters. I 
had long considered it to be the C. hippos of Mitchill; but its form, absence of finlets, re- 
cumbent spine, and other particulars noticed above, render this highly improbable. They 
usually appear in September, if the season has been warm, and in some years are very 
abundant. I have rarely seen them to exceed the dimensions given above. In one of the 
drawings of my friend Dr. Holbrook, I notice the figure of a species which agrees entirely 
with mine, but which has three anal spines, and the first ray of the first dorsal is shorter than 
the second. 
THE YELLOW CARANX. 
CaRANX CRYSOS, 
PLATE XXVII. FIG. 85.—(STATE COLLECTION.) 
The Yellow Mackerel, Scomber crysos. Mitcniuu, Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 424. 
La Carangue jaune. Cuv. et Vat. Hist. des Poiss. Vol. 9, p. 97. 
Characteristics. Body elongated. Depth one-fourth of its total length, With a recumbent 
spine before the dorsal. No finlets. A very small black spot on the 
opercle. Length 6 to 8 inches. 
Description. Body elongated, compressed. Scales small, caducous, concentrically striate, 
and extending over the suborbitals. Lateral line widely curved in front, and when opposite 
the fourth ray of the second dorsal, goes off straight with about forty-six spinous plates, 
becoming gradually wider behind, with stronger and more elevated spines, until they nearly 
surround the tail. Forehead arched. Eyes large. Nostrils double, approximated, obliquely 
oval. Lower jaw longest, with a series of minute card teeth. Asperities on the vomer and 
palatines. Tongue distinct, rounded ; its surface covered with minute teeth. Margin of the 
opercle rounded. ‘ 
The first dorsal fin is triangular, and in advance of it a short recumbent spine, as in the 
preceding species. This fin is composed of eight spinous rays ; the first short, slender, and 
closely attached to the second, which is shorter than the third; the fourth longest, and all 
received into a deep furrow. The second dorsal is composed of twenty-five rays; has a 
fleshy prolongation, covering a part of the bases of more than half of the anterior rays. Its 
first ray is very short and spinous; the third, fourth and fifth longest, and subequal; from 
Fauna — Parr 4. 16 
