The Pampanos 



were obtained by us in Porto Rico. It is not valued as food, the 

 flesh being thin and dry, and the bones large. Where common 

 it is of some interest as a game-fish, as it takes the hook 

 readily and may be caught either by still-fishing or trolling. 



Colour, greenish above, the sides and below golden; caudal 

 peduncle dusky above; dark opercular and axillary spots; insid" 

 of mouth black, fins not bordered nor tipped with black. 



GENUS TRACHINOTUS LACEPEDE 

 The Pampanos or Pompanos * 



This is, commercially, the most important genus of the 

 Carangidce, containing, as it does, some of the most delicious 

 of all food-fishes. 



Body compressed, moderately elevated, the general outline ovate; 

 caudal peduncle short and rather slender; abdomen not trenchant, 

 shorter than the anal fin ; head moderately compressed, very blunt, 

 the snout abruptly truncate; mouth nearly horizontal, maxillary 

 reaching middle of eye; premaxillaries protractile; no distinct sup- 

 plemental maxillary bone; jaws, vomer, and palatines with bands of 

 villiform teeth, which disappear with age; spinous dorsal represented 

 by 6 rather low spines, connected by membrane in the young but 

 free in adult; second dorsal long, elevated in front, anal opposite and 

 similar to it; 2 stout, nearly free spines in front of anal, and one con- 

 nected with the fin, these often disappearing with age; scales smalJ 

 and smooth; lateral line unarmed, little arched, no caudal keel. 



Species numerous, about a dozen in our waters, most of them of 

 some value as food, and a few among the most highly prized of 

 food-fishes. , 



a. Dorsal with 19 or 20 soft rays; anal with 17 to 19. 



b. Body very much compressed; sides with narrow black crossbars; 



lobes of vertical fins elongate, reaching past middle of caudal in 

 adult. 



c. Snout subtruncate or nearly vertical; profile from supraorbital to 



front of dorsal fin convex ; glaucus, 3 1 4 



cc. Snout low, very oblique; profile from supraorbital to front of 

 dorsal scarcely convex rhodopus, 314 



