* 



FISHES OP MASSACHUSETTS. 153 



The Anal fin, commencing back of the beginning of the dor- 

 sal, terminates upon the same plane with it. 



The Caudal fin, when not expanded, is a little longer than 

 wide ; when expanded, one fourth wider than long. 



The fin rays are : D. 11 ; P. 20 ; A. 10 ; C. 12. 



The young fish is blue above, and almost entirely white 

 beneath. 



ECHENEIS. Lin. 



Generic characters. Body elongated, covered with very 

 small scales ; a single dorsal Jin placed opposite the anal ; the 

 head very flat, covered with an oval disk formed by numerous 

 transverse cartilaginous plates, the edges of which are directed 

 backward ; the mouth wide, with numerous small recurved 

 teeth on both jaws, the tongue, and the vomer. 



E. naucrates. Lin. The Indian Remora. 



Sonnini's Buffon, vol. Ixxii, p. 187. 

 Rees' Encyclopedia, vol. xiii. 

 Strack's plates, 45. 2. a poor figure. 



I have seen a single specimen only of this species ; it was 

 taken by a fisherman from the bottom of his smack, to which 

 it was attached in Boston Bay. 



Length of the specimen, twenty inches ; greatest depth, ex- 

 clusive of the fins, two inches. Body, above, of a grayish 

 slate color ; lighter upon the sides, with a dark band, which, 

 commencing at the tip of the lower jaw, as a small black 

 point, runs along its margin to the angle of the jaw, then as- 

 suming a band which passes to the tail, interrupted only by 

 the eyes ; in front of the pectorals, this band is only two lines 

 in width, at the pectorals it grows wider, is widest beneath 

 them, and becomes gradually smaller as it approaches the pos- 

 terior extremity of the fish. Top of the head flattened ; back, 

 between disk arid dorsal fin, nearly circular ; body, back of the 

 dorsal, somewhat compressed. Length of the head, from the tip 

 of the lower jaw to the posterior angle of the operculum, three 

 20 



