FISHES. 28? 



(Exoc&tus Nigricans, N. Sp.) 



Pectoral fins as long as the body ; their rays muri- 

 cated, or studded above and beneath with small tuber- 

 cles. Ventral fins placed near the middle of the belly, 

 very long, tapered and slender when collapsed, broad 

 when expanded, and very conspicuous during the flight 

 of the fish ; jaws provided with small teeth ; branchios- 

 tegous rays, eleven ; dorsal, fifteen ; pectoral, fifteen ; 

 ventral, six ; anal, ten. 



Head and upper portion of the body black ; abdo- 

 men silver-white ; iris silvery with purple stains 5 pec- 

 toral fins black, a broad transverse white band extend- 

 ing across their centre ; a black mark on the posterior 

 third of the dorsal, and on the base of the ventral fin. 

 The proximal half of the caudal fin is also black. En- 

 tire length of the fish, fourteen inches and a half. 



Taken both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in 

 lat. 5o N. 



A parasitic worm, Lerntea exoccBti, is sometimes at- 

 tached to the body of this species. It is about one 

 inch in length, uniformly black, and of this form : 



Its head, or tubular peduncle, penetrates the abdo- 

 men of the fish and becomes rooted amongst the intes- 

 tines, while the body protrudes externally, pendant 

 from beneath the pectoral fin. 



