708 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



c. Dorsal and anal fins each with several detached finlets; cleft of mouth long, both 

 jaws being more or less produced in a pointed beak; paired fins small. 



SCOMBRESOCIDjE, XCVI. 



cc. Dorsal and anal without finlets; cleft of mouth short, the jaws not produced in a 

 beak; pectoral fins more or less produced, forming au organ of flight. 



EXOC(ET1D.E, XCVII. 



Family XCIV. ESOCID^E. 

 (THE NEEDLEFISHES.) 



Body elongate, very slender, compressed or not, covered with small, 

 thin scales. Lateral line very low, running as a fold along side of belly. 

 Both jaws produced in a beak, the lower jaw the longer, very much the 

 longer in the young, which resemble Hemiramphus ; maxillaries grown 

 fast to premaxillaries ; each jaw with a band of small, sharp teeth, 

 besides a series of longer, wide-set, sharp, conical teeth. No finlets. Dor- 

 sal fin opposite anal, both fins rather long. Air bladder present. Lower 

 pharyngeals united to form a long, slender, narrow plate, with flat sur- 

 face, covered with small, pointed teeth; upper pharyngeals distinct, the 

 third pair little enlarged, each with some 15 moderate, unequal, pointed 

 teeth (Tylosurus marinus) ; fourth pair well developed, with similar teeth, 

 but without anterior processes. Vertebrae numerous, with zygopophyses. 

 Ovary single. Voracious, carnivorous fishes, bearing a superficial resem- 

 blance to the Gar Pikes; found in all warm seas, sometimes entering 

 rivers. Genera 4, only 2 of which (Tylosurus and Athlennes) are found in 

 our waters ;* species about 50, the majority of them American. Their 

 habits are ordinarily much like those of the pike, but when startled 

 they swim along the surface with extraordinary rapidity, often leaping 

 above the water for short distances. When thus leaping the large 

 species of the tropics are sources of danger to incautious fishermen, 

 sometimes piercing the naked abdomens of the savages. Most of them 

 are good food-fishes, but the green color of the bones of the larger 

 species often causes them to be avoided, for no good reason. (Scombereso- 

 cidce, part, Giinther, Cat., vi, 233-256, 1866.) 



a. Gill rakers none; no teeth on vomer; dorsal and anal elevated iu front; caudal fin lunate. 

 6. Body subterete or slightly compressed, its breadth more than % its greatest depth. 



TYLOSURUS, 324. 

 bb. Body much compressed, its breadth not half its greatest depth. ATHLENNES, 325. 



324. TYLOSURUS,t Cocco. 



Tylosurus, Cocco, "Lettere in Giornale Sci. Sicilia, xvn," 18, 1829, (canlraini imperialis = acus). 



Body elongate, very slender, not much compressed. Both jaws pro- 

 longed into a beak, the lower jaw somewhat the longer, much the longer 

 in young fishes, the very young resembling Hemiramphus. Each jaw 

 armed with a band of small, sharp teeth, beside which is a series of 



*The remaining genera are Esox, (Belone), and Potamarrhaphis. Esox is characterized by the 

 presence of fin rakers and is confined to the Old World and the islands of the Pacific. Potamor- 

 raphis is similar to Tylosurus, but with the dorsal and anal not falcate. Its species inhabit the 

 rivers of South America. 



t For a full account of the American species of this genus see Jordan & Fordice, Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1886, 339-361. 



