432 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



rays of each fin elongate and villiform in the young, becoming 

 shorter with age; ventral fins elongate in young, short in the 

 adult; pectorals falcate; no finlets; caudal peduncle narrow, the 

 caudal widely forked; gill rakers moderate, stout. This genus 

 is not essentially different from C a r a n x , the great change in 

 form arising from no important modification of the skeleton. 

 The changes due to age are surprisingly great, as Dr Ltitken has 

 shown, the characters of the nominal genera being chiefly stages 

 in the growth of individuals. The young individuals are almost 

 orbicular in form, with the filaments excessively long. Tropical 



seas. 



216 Alectis ciliaris (Bloch) 



Threadfish; Cobbler fish; ShoemaJcerfish 



Zeus ciliaris BLOCH, Ichth. VI, 29, pi. 29, 1788, East Indies. 



Zeus crinitis AKEELY, Amer. Jour. Sci. Arts, XI, 144, pi. 2, 1826, Shoreham. 



BlepJiaris crinitus DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 123, pi. 25, fig. 76, 1842. 



Blepharichthys crinitus GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 262, 1862. 



>Caranx sutor GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 454, 1860. 



Alectis crinitus JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 438, 1883. 



Alectis ciliaris JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 931, 1896; 



BEAN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 362, 1897; 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. 



State Mus. 108, 1900; SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 98, 1898. 



Body oval, much compressed, highest at the elevated bases of 

 the dorsal and anal fins. The depth of the body is contained 

 from one and one fourth to two times in the length of the body. 

 The length of the head is contained three and one third times in 

 that of the body. Mouth nearly horizontal in the adult, very 

 oblique in the young; preorbital very deep; first rays of dorsal 

 and anal filamentous, exceedingly long, in the young much 

 longer than body, becoming shorter with age; lateral with a wide 

 arch, the curved part about equal to the straight part; scaly 

 sheath of fins little developed; scutes 12, scutes becoming 

 stronger and blunter with age; ventrals broad; occipital keel 

 :sharp; pectorals long and falcate, longer than head. D. VI-I, 

 19; A. II-1, 16. Bluish above, golden yellow below; a dark blotch 

 on opercle; a black spot on orbit above; a black blotch on dorsal 

 and anal in front. 



The threadfish is found on the east coast from Cape Cod to the 

 Caribbean sea and on the Pacific coast of tropical America. In 



