956 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



Dorsal fin excessively high, all the rays alike, simple, fragile, and 

 unbranched, appearing like hairs ; some of the anterior rays higher ; 2 

 or 3 of the anterior shorter and graduated ; the posterior rays progres- 

 sively shorter ; first dorsal ray on the head. Anal similar to dorsal, 

 equally high and almost as long, the rays all simple, the first ray short. 

 Eye large ; nape elevated ; mouth large, nearly vertical ; maxillary broad, 

 scaly ; teeth small, slender, on jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatines. 

 Pseudobranchise present ; air bladder small ; coeca 6. Pelagic fishes, widely 

 distributed. (Trrepov, fin or wing ; /cAmj, to close. u The name indicating 

 the double rows of scales which embrace the bases of the two vertical 

 fins.") 



1355. PTERACLIS CAROLINUS, Cuvier & Valenciennes. 



D. LII; A. XLIV. Mouth larger, scales larger, and fourth or longest 

 ray of the dorsal stouter than in other species. Silvery, with bluish 

 reflections. Coast of South Carolina ; known from a mutilated specimen 

 4 inches long, evidently the young of some pelagic species. (Cuv. & Val.) 

 A second specimen, agreeing in general with this description has been 

 lately obtained by the Albatross (Goode & Bean). 



f Pteraclis Irichoplerus, CuviEU & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., ix, 367, 1833, locality 



unknown. D. 50; A. 44. (Coll. Quoy & Gaimard.) 

 Pteraclis carolinus, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, /. c., ix, 368, 1833, off coast of South Carolina, 



GUNTHER, Cat., n, 411, 1860; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 455, 1883; GOODE & BEAN; 



Oceanic Ichthyology, 212, 1895. 



Family CXXXII. BRAMIDJE. 



(THE POMFRETS.) 



Body oblong, more or less elevated, strongly compressed, covered with 

 firm adherent scales, large or small. Scales firm, cycloid, lobate, or 

 emarginate, or with a median ridge or spine ; this character found in the 

 young of all species but disappearing with age in some of them. Mouth 

 moderate, very oblique, the maxillary broad and scaly, the premaxillary 

 protractile ; jaws with bands of slender teeth ; teeth on vorner and pala- 

 tines present or absent. Preopercle entire or serrulate, serrate or spinous 

 in the young; opercles well developed. Dorsal and anal fins long, similar 

 to each other ; each with 3 or 4 anterior rays short and simple, developed 

 as spines, the remaining rays all articulated ; soft dorsal and anal scaly 

 or with a sheath of scales ; ventrals small, below the pectoral ; the axil- 

 lary scale well developed, the rays I, 5. Pectoral long. Caudal peduncle 

 slender, the fin lunate or forked, sometimes widely so. Branchiostegals 

 7. Pseudobranchiae present. Pyloric coeca few. Air bladder present or 

 absent ; supraoccipital crest large and high, extending forward to the 

 snout. Vertebrae numerous (16 -{-23=39 in Brama rail). Skeleton firm. 

 Shoulder girdle thick and heavy, the hypocoracoid especially large and 

 much dilated, entering the ventral outline, excluding the pubic bones from 

 contact with the shoulder girdle; pubic bones short and small; neurals 

 and interneurals small and slender. Fishes of the open sea, widely dis- 

 tributed and often inhabiting considerable depths, subject to great changes 



