Jonian and Ever man n. Fishes of North America. 931 



423. ALECTIS, Kafinesque. 

 (THREADFISHES.) 



Gallns, LACEPDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 583, 1802, (virescetu; name preoccupied in birds). 

 Alectis, RAFINESQUE, Analyse de la Nature, 1815, (substitute for Gatlus, preoccupied). 

 Ll> pharis, CUVIER, llegne Auim., n, 322, 1817, (ciliaris; name preoccupied). 

 .Sv/a.s, CUVIEII, Regne Anim., Ed. n, Vol. u, 209, 1829, (iiidk-a). 



Gallichthyx, Ci'ViER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 168, 1833, (gallus; substitute for GaUns)- 

 Wepharichthijs, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 431, (ciliaris; substitute for Bh-pharis, pre- 

 occupied). 



Body rhomboid, deep, strongly compressed, more or less completely 

 covered with minute embedded scales, sometimes apparently naked ; 

 scutes on the straight portion of the lateral line enlarged, bony, and 

 spinous, as in Caranx, but much less developed. Mouth moderate, with 

 bands of villiform teeth on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue. First 

 dorsal fin little developed, the spines short and rudimentary, mostly dis- 

 appearing with age ; soft dorsal and anal similar to each other ; the first 

 five or six rays of each fin elongate and filiform in the young, becoming 

 shorter with age ; ventral fins elongate in young, short in the adult ; 

 pectorals falcate ; no finlets. Caudal peduncle narrow, the caudal widely 

 forked. Gill rakers moderate, stout. This genus is not essentially different 

 from Caranx, the great change in form arising from no important modifi- 

 cation of the skeleton. The changes due to age are surprisingly great, 

 as Dr. Liitken has shown, the characters of the nominal genera being 

 chiefly stages in the growth of individuals. The young individuals are 

 almost orbicular in form, with the filaments excessively long. Tropical 

 seas. (a/ienTup, a cock ; different species having been known as Meerhenne 

 or Gallus marinus, Peixe-Gallo, Gal, or Poisson-Coq ; these names first 

 applied to Zeus faber.) 



1&26. ALECTIS CILIARIS (Bloch). 

 (THREADFISH ; COBBLER FISH ; SUNFISH.) 4 



Head %; depth H to 2. D. VI-I, 19; A. 11-1,16; scutes 12. Body 

 oval, much compressed, highest at the elevated bases of dorsal and anal 

 fins. Preorbital very deep. Mouth nearly horizontal in the adult, very 

 oblique in the young. First rays of dorsal and anal filamentous, exceed- 

 ingly long, in the young much longer than body, becoming shorter with 

 age. Lateral line with a wide arch, the curved portion about equal to 

 the straight part. Scaly sheath of fins little developed. Scutes becom- 

 ing stronger and blunter with age. Ventrals broad ; occipital keel sharp. 

 Pectorals long and falcate, longer than head. Bluish above, golden yellow 

 below; a dark blotch on opercle; a black spot on orbit above; a black 

 blotch on dorsal and anal in front. Tropical America on both coasts, 

 ranging north to Cape Cod and Mazatlan, generally common southward, 

 about the Florida Keys and Cuba ; a food-fish of some importance. The 

 many nominal species of this type have been reduced by Liitken to three 

 or four: gallus and ciliaris of the East Indies, alexandrinus of North 

 Africa, and erinitus of America. We have not examined the East Indian 



