FAMILY CLUPIDA — ALOSA. 259 
THE MOSSBONKER. 
ALosA MENHADEN, 
PLATE XXI. FIG. 60. 
Bony-fish or Mossbonker, Clupea menhaden. Mircuiut, Report in part &c., p. 21. 
Hard-head or Marsbankers, C. menhaden. Ip. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soe. Vol. 1, p. 453. 
The Menhaden, Hard-head, Alosa menhaden. StorER, Massachusetts Report p. 117. 
Characteristics. Silvery ; no stripes ; a humeral spot. A double accessory ray to the ventrals. 
Abdomen serrated behind the ventrals. Length 10 - 14 inches. 
Description. Body much compressed ; its height to its length as one to four nearly. Abdo- 
men cultrate, with a fissure along its edge, indistinctly serrated before the ventrals, sharply 
serrate behind. Scales large, elliptical, distinctly and evenly ciliate on the free margins ; on 
the back, smaller and more crowded ; on the nape, the scales have longer unequal cilie. No 
appearance of a lateral line. Head large, compressed, one-third of the total length; the 
opercles with curved and radiating strie. Mouth large; the upper jaw emarginate on the 
side. 'The gill membrane on one side folds over its opposite, with five slender cylindrical and 
three larger and flat rays. Branchial arches four, with a small rudimentary one in front, all 
angular, and with long minutely fringed filaments. Eyes nearly covered by a nictitating mem- 
brane. ‘Tongue soft, white, minutely punctate with black. 
The dorsal fin long, emarginate ; the first three rays simple, articulated ; the anterior being 
very short, the remainder branched : first branchial ray highest, the last higher than the four 
preceding. ‘This fin is concave on its margin, and is placed in a sheath. Pectorals long and 
pointed, on a line with the margin of the opercles ; the first ray simple; the accessory plate 
large, and as long as the fifth ray. Ventrals feeble, short, fan-shaped, lying under the ante- 
rior portion of the dorsal, with double accessory plates. Anal long and low, the two first rays 
simple, the first shortest; the last ray longer than the fourteen preceding. Scales covering 
the base of the rays, so as to form a sort of sheath. Caudal forked, much branched, and 
with numerous accessory rays. Scales extending high up on the fin, and very minute ones 
distributed almost to the tip. Abdomen covered internally with a black pigment. Intestines 
long and convoluted. Caca numerous, attached to a stout muscular stomach, lined with a 
white rugose membrane, covered with numerous papille. Air-bladder simple. 
Color. Summit of the head and back greenish; silvery on the sides. In the plates, more 
of a yellow hue is given to this fish than belongs to him. A dark brown spot on the shoul- 
ders, behind the opercles. Irides yellow. A space anterior to the eyes so translucent as to 
permit opaque objects to be seen through on the other side. 
Length 8:0-14°0. 
Binerays; Ds 20k. PA L6i;, Vie Gis Ay 225 (C.. 20) 
This fish is known under the various names of Bony-fish, Hard-head, Mossbonkers (or as 
