Jordan and Evcrmann. Fishes of North America. 1755 



Orthr ago rise ua ozodura, HARTING, Verhand. Ak. Wet. Amsterd., 1-48, pis. 1-8, 1868. 

 Ostracion loops, RICHARDSON, Voy. Erebus & Terror, Ichth., 52,1844, South Atlantic. 

 Centaurus boopt, KAUP (very young larva), Archiv. Naturg., i, 1855, 221. 



687. RANZANIA, Nardo. 

 (KING OF THE MACKERELS.) 



Ranzania, NARDO, Ann. Sci. Regn. Lombard. Venet., v, 10, 105, 1840 (truncatus). 



Body oblong, the depth about -J- height; skin smooth, tessellated, 

 divided into small hexagonal scutella; caudal truncate; otherwise essen- 

 tially as in Mola, the size smaller; the larval forms unknown. Pelagic. 

 (Named for Camillo Kaiizani, of Bologna, an excellent naturalist, who 

 was led by the variations in the form of Mola to an ineffective subdivision 

 of the species into many genera. ) 



2173. RANZANIA TRUNCATA (Retzius)* 



Head not quite 3; depth about 2. D. 16 to 19; P. 12 or 13; A. 19; C. 18 

 to 22. Body elongated ovate with the sides compressed. Eye 2 to 3 times 

 in snout; snout straight; mouth anterior and opposite center of eye. 

 Caudal very short, its base straight, slightly oblique; dorsal and anal at 

 the extreme end of dorsal and abdominal profiles and connected to the 

 caudal; pectoral somewhat pointed. Skin smooth and divided into small 

 hexagonal plates like mosaic. Color: "Immediately before death the 

 colors were most brilliant, the back being of a dark purple, gradually 

 decreasing in intensity to the belly, which was white with golden reflec- 

 tions, the side marked with green lines on the purple; toward the tail 

 there were several irregular white spots about the size of a threepenny 

 piece; the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins were of a pale lead color, but 

 the caudal fin was most brilliant, being of a bright burnished silver, with 

 prismatic reflections, the rays tinged with purple, while between the rays 

 there were keyhole-shaped markings, edged with gold, forming such a 

 brilliant combination of colors as is not easily imagined ; but this bril- 

 liancy entirely vanished a few minutes after the death of the fish, when 

 it assumed the dull-blue color of the figure in Couch's Fishes of the Brit- 

 ish Isles, which is exceedingly good, but might have been a few shades 

 darker." (S. Clogg, Zool., 342, 1883.) Borlase's specimen was dapple, 

 spotted darker on the back, with streaks | inch wide from eye to pectoral 

 fin. (Day.) Size much less than that of Mola mola, the length about 2 

 feet. Pelagic; occasional off our Atlantic coast; once taken on the Ber- 

 mudas. A related but apparently different species * is occasionally taken 



*Ranzania makua, JENKINS. The following is the substance of Dr. Jenkins's descrip- 

 tion of this species: 



"D. 17; A. 18; C. 19; P. 13. Depth 2 in length to base of caudal; head 2|; eye 6 in 

 head, 2^ in snout. Body much compressed, the ventral margin a sharp, evenly curved 

 keel. Eye much above axis of body, a little nearer snout than base of pectoral. Teeth 

 forming a turtle-like beak, completely hidden by projecting folds of skin, which form a 

 truncated opening to the mouth. Gill opening just in front of upper base of pectoral, 

 covered by a 2-lobed valve. Body covered by an armor of small plates, more or less hex- 

 agonal and concealed. Pectoral about 1 in head, above axis of body; height of dorsal 

 about equal to head ; anal slightly lower; dorsal and anal each separated from the caudal 

 by a notch. Color bright silvery on sides, upper parts dark ; sides with brighter silvery 

 bands, the first 3 with distinct black borders, the next 4 with numerous black spots, the 

 black margins appearing only on lower parts. Differing from Ranzania truncata chiefly 



