FAMILY CLUPID^ ALOSA. 259 



THE MOSSBONKER. 



Alosa menhaden. 



PLATE XXI. FIG. CO. 



B^my-Jish or Mossbonkm-y Clupea menhaden. MiTCHILL, Report in part &c., p. 21. 

 Hard-head or MaTsbankers, C. menhaden. Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 4.53. 

 The Menhaden, Hard-head, Ahsa menhaden. Storer, Massachusetts Report p. 117. 



Characteristics. Silvery; no stripes ; a humeral spot. A double accessory ray to the ventrals. 

 Abdomen serrated behind the ventrals. Length 10-14 inches. 



Description. Body much compressed ; its height to its length as one to four nearly. Abdo- 

 men cultratc, witli a fissure along its edge, indistinctly serrated before the ventrals, sharply 

 serrate behind. Scales large, elliptical, distinctly and evenly ciliate on the free margins ; on 

 the back, smaller and more crowded ; on the nape, the scales have longer unequal cihae. No 

 appearance of a lateral line. Head large, compressed, one-third of the total length ; the 

 opercles with curved and radiating strife. Mouth large ; the upper jaw cmarginate on the 

 side. The gill membrane on one side folds over its opposite, with live slender cylindrical and 

 three larger and flat rays. Branchial arches four, with a small rudimentary one in front, all 

 angular, and with long minutely fringed filaments. Eyes nearly covered by a nictitating mem- 

 brane. Tongue soft, white, minutely punctate with black. 



The dorsal fin long, emarginate ; the first three rays simple, articulated ; the anterior being 

 very short, the remainder branched : first branchial ray highest, the last higher than the four 

 preceding. This fin is concave on its margin, and is placed in a sheath. Pectorals long and 

 poinli d, on a line with the margin of the opercles ; the first ray simple ; the accessory plate 

 large, and as long as the fifth ray. Ventrals feeble, short, fan-shaped, lying under the ante- 

 rior portion of the dorsal, with double accessory plates. Anal long and low, the two first rays 

 simple, the first shortest ; the last ray longer than the fourteen preceding. Scales covering 

 the base of the rays, so as to form a sort of sheath. Caudal forked, much branched, and 

 with numerous accessory rays. Scales extending high up on the fin, and very minute ones 

 distributed almost to tlie tip. Abdomen covered internally with a black pigment. Intestines 

 long and convoluted. CaBca numerous, attached to a stout muscular stomach, lined with a 

 white rugose membrane, covered with numerous papilla;. Air-bladder simple. 



Color. Summit of the head and back greenish ; silvery on the sides. In the plates, more 

 of a yellow hue is given to this fish than belongs to him. A dark brown spot on the siioul- 

 ders, behind the opercles. Irides yellow. A space anterior to the eyes so translucent as to 

 permit opaque objects to be seen through on the other side. 



Length 8-0- 14 '0. 



Fin rays, D. 20; P. 16; V. 6 ; A. 22; C. 20 i. 



This fish is known under the various names of Bony-fish, Ilard-hcaJ, Mosshonkcrs (or as 



