FISHES. 2?9 



Scomber Thynnus, the Tunny j but has some peculiari- 

 ties which distinguish it from that species, and bring it 

 nearer to S. Germo, of Comme^on. 



The average length of the examples we captured from 

 the ship was four feet ; though some others, which we 

 saw on the coasts of the Polynesian Islands, measured 

 nearly six feet. Their body is bulky, but, like that of 

 all the Mackerel family, very elegantly formed. The 

 colour of the back is bright-blue or azure, with a golden 

 tint ; the belly silvery-white and beautifully iridescent ; 

 the spurious fins of the tail bright-yellow, the iris 

 silvery. The pectoral fin is long and sickle-shaped. 

 The first dorsal, composed of fourteen rays, is received 

 and completely concealed, when depressed, within a 

 deep groove on the back Rays of the ventral fin, 

 seven. Anal, twelve. Caudal, thirty. The spurious 

 fins, (nine above the tail and eight below,) are triangular, 

 and move freely in a lateral direction. An elastic semi- 

 cartilaginous ridge projects from each side of the tail. 

 It is only on the upper and anterior parts of the body, 

 and chiefly around the pectoral fins, that there is any 

 collection of scales ; the rest of the fish being smooth, 

 and apparently destitute of this covering. The eyes 

 are very large, and provided with a bony sclerotica. 



It is chiefly remarkable of this fish, that amongst the 

 vast numbers of them we captured for the table, or 

 other purposes, not one possessed a milt or roe : nor 

 had any of our crew, eyen the oldest voyagers in the 

 Pacific, ever noticed these organs in the albacore, or 

 any distinct traces of their mode of propagation. Dis- 

 section seemed to demonstrate that the species is vi- 

 viparous ;* but it is equally strange that no examples 



* The anatomical peculiarities which lead to this inference are as 



