Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America, 409 



197. TARPON, Jordan & Evermann. 

 (GRANDE ECAILLK.) 



Tarpon, JORDAN' & EVERMANN, new gonus, (atlanticns). 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with very large, thick, silvery, 

 cycloid scales ; belly narrow, but not carinated, its edge with ordinary 

 scales. Mouth large, oblique, the lower jaw prominent ; maxillary 

 broad, extending beyond the eye. Villiform teeth on jaws, vomer, pala- 

 tines, tongue, sphenoid, and pterygoid bones. Eye very large, with an 

 adipose eyelid. Lateral line nearly straight, its tubes radiating widely 

 over the surface of the scales. Branchiostegals 23. Pseudobranchias 

 wanting. Gill rakers long and slender. Dorsal fin short and high, 

 inserted behind the ventrals (over the ventrals in Meyalops}, its last ray 

 elongate and filamentous as in Megalops, Dorosoma, and OpistJionemaj 

 anal fin much longer than dorsal, falcate, its last ray produced; caudal 

 widely forked ; pectorals and ventrals rather long; anal with a sheath 

 of scales; dorsal naked; caudal more or less scaly; a collar of large 

 scales at the nape. Vertebras about 57 (28-}- 29). Size very large, the 

 largest of the herring-like fishes. 



The posterior insertion of the dorsal fin distinguishes the single spe- 

 cies of Tarpon from the East Indian Megalops cyprinoides, a fish of similar 

 habit, in which the dorsal is inserted above the ventrals. (Tarpon or 

 Tarpum, the common name in Florida, probably of Indian origin.) 



670. TARPON ATLANTICUS (CuTier & Valenciennes). 



(TARPON; TARPUM; GRANDE CAILLE; SILVER-FISH; SABALO; SAVANILLA; SAVALLE.) 

 Head 4; depth 3. D. 12; A. 20; lateral line 42; branchiostegals 

 23. Body elongate, compressed, little elevated. Dorsal filament longer 

 than head. Mouth large, the maxillary extending beyond eye. Uniform 

 bright silvery, the back darker. Length 6 feet. Long Island to Brazil ; 

 common on our southern coasts, but probably not breeding north of 

 Cuba ; noted for the great size of its scales, which are used in ornamen- 

 tal work. It reaches a weight of 30 to 110 pounds. It is not much 

 valued for food, although much appreciated by anglers. "An immense 

 and active fish, preying eagerly on schools of small fry, in pursuit of 

 which it ascends fresh-water rivers quite a long distance." (Stearns.) 

 It is often dangerous to seine fishermen, leaping over or through the nets 

 with great force. 



Megalops atlanticn*, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poisp., xix, 398, 1840, Guadeloupe;* 



San Domingo; Martinique; Porto Rico. 



Megalops elongaim, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 18f>8, 224, Long Island. 

 Megalops thrissoides, GUNTHER, Cat., vn, 472, 1868, and of most authors; but the name Clupea 



thrissoiden, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, belongs to the East Indian Megalops cyprinoides; JORDAN & 



GILBERT, Synopsis, 262, 1883. 



198. ELOPS, Linnaeus. 



Flops, LINN/EUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. xn, 518, 1766, (saurtit). 

 Mugilomorus, LACEP^DE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., v, 398, 1803, (anna-carolina). 



Trichonotus, KAFINESQUE, Analyse de la Nature, 1815, 88, (anna-carolina) ; substitute for Mugilo- 

 morue, considered objectionable. 



