Jordan and Evermann. Pishes of North America. 891 



1279. ISTIOPHORUS NIGRICANS (Lacepede). 

 (SAILFISH ; SPIKEFISH ; BOOHOO ; GUEBUCU ; VOILIER ; AOUJA VOLADORA ; AGUJA PRIETA.) 



Head 2| (3i in length with caudal) ; depth about 6. D. XLI-7 ; A. 9-7. 

 Longest dorsal spine total length of head. Ventrals \\ in head ; pec- 

 torals 3; caudal lobes If. Snout, from eye, 2* times length rest of 

 head ; lower jaw 3i in head. Front of eye nearly midway between tip 

 of lower jaw and edge of opercle. Interorbital space broad, flattisb, 

 1? in postorbital part of head. Maxillary reaching to slightly beyond 

 eye, which is 2| in postorbital part of head and 10 in snout. Sword nar- 

 row, regularly tapering, depressed, its upper and lower surfaces both 

 rounded, its edges blunt and rougher than its upper side. For its entire 

 length it is nearly twice as broad as deep. Breadth of snout at the mid- 

 dle point between its tip and the eye 25 times in its length from the eye. 

 Bluish black, paler below ; dorsal dusky bluish ; its membranes with 

 many nearly round black spots, from \ to i diameter of orbit. Length 

 of specimen described (obtained by Dr. Jordan at Key West) 6 feet. 

 West Indies and warmer parts of the Atlantic, north to Key West and 

 France ; rather common about the Florida Keys ; stragglers taken at 

 Newport and Savannah ; very rare in Europe. Differing from the East 

 Indian Istiophorus yladius in the longer and slenderer sword and in the 

 shorter dorsal fin. (Eu.) 



Mtikaira nigricam, LACEDEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 688, 1803, Rochelle; from a drawing by M. 



TRAVERSAY. 



Xiphias makaira, SHAW, Gen'l. Zool., iv, 104,1803, Rochelle; after LACEPEDE. 

 Histiophorm americanus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vm, 303, 1831, Brazil; 



after Guebucu of MARCGRAVE. 

 f Histiophorus pulchellus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vm, 305, 1831, Eastern 



Atlantic, north of Cape of Good Hope. 

 Skeponopodus guebucu, NARDO, Isis., xxvi, Col. 416, 1833, Brazil; after MARCC.RAVE. 



408. TETRAPTURUS, Rafinesque. 



(SPEARFISHES.) 



Tetrapturus, RAFINESQUE, Tndice d'lttiol. Sicil., 30, 1810, (belone). 

 Skeponopodus, NARDO, Isis., xxvi, Cols. 416, 419, 1833, (typus). 



Body much compressed, covered with rudimentary embedded scales ; 

 sword rounded on the edge ; caudal keel double ; small teeth in the jaws 

 and on the palatines ; ventral fins represented each by a single spine , 

 dorsal fins separate in the adult, part of the middle rays being aborted, 

 not greatly elevated, their height not greater than the depth of the body. 

 Air bladder sacculated. Vertebra? 12 + 12. Intestine short, nearly straight. 

 Pyloric coeca very numerous. Large fishes of the deep seas. They swim 

 in deep water, according to Poey, and pass Cuba in pairs in summer 

 bound for the Gulf of Mexico. Males smaller than females, (rerpa-, four; 

 Trrepov, wing; ovpd, tail, from the wing-like caudal keels.) 



a. Body rather Blender, the height of dorsal in adult more than half depth of body; caudal 



moderately forked. IMPERATOU, 1280. 



aa. Body robust, the height of dorsal barely half depth in adult; caudal very widely forked. 



AMPLUS, 1281. 



