FISHES OF NEW YORK 413^ 



head one fourth of total without caudal; snout two sevenths as 

 long as the head; interorbital space convex, its width one half 

 the length of head without the snout; maxilla expanded behind, 

 reaching to below front of eye; mandible three sevenths as long 

 as the head, reaching to below hind margin of eye; top of head 

 and cheeks scaly, most of opercle and preopercle and all of 

 interopercle naked; teeth in bands in the jaws but comparatively 

 few and weak; vomerines and palatines also small and the 

 lingual patch narrow; gill rakers stout, short, about 17 below 

 the angle, the longest one half the length of eye; eye one sixth as 

 long as the head. The spinous dorsal consists of four short, 

 isolated spines, the first located nearly above the end of the 

 base of ventral, the second and third spines the longest and 

 about one fourth as long as the snout. The second dorsal 

 begins midway between tip of snout and base of caudal; the 

 base of the fin is nearly three times as long as the pectoral; the 

 second mj is longest and one half as long as the head, the last 

 ray as long as the eye; the upper margin of the fin is slightly con- 

 cave. There is a long, fleshy keel on the caudal peduncle, longer 

 than the postorbital part of the head. The caudal is deeply 

 forked, its outer rays more than twice as long as the middle 

 rays, both measured from base of caudal fin; the outer rajs are 

 as long as the head. The anal is preceded by two very small 

 spines; the base of the fin is as long as the head; the longest 

 ray is as long as the snout and eye combined, the last ray as 

 long as the snout. The vent is under the 10th ray of the dorsal. 

 The ventral fin is under the lower axil of the pectoral; its 

 length is three fifths of length of head; when extended, it 

 reaches to below the origin of the second dorsal. The pectoral' 

 fin is below the level of the eye; its length is about equal to 

 length of ventral; it reaches to below the third spine of the 

 dorsal. D. IV-I, 26 to 27; A. II, I, 16 to 17; V. I, 5; P. I, 20. 

 Scales minute, about 55 rows between gill opening and origin 

 of second dorsal. Color bluish with five to seven broad, dark 

 bands, some of these extending on the fins; outer margin of 

 caudal, ventral and pectoral nearly black. 



