FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 9% 


ORDER SYNENTOGNATHI. 
Famity BELONIDZ (Tue Sriver Gars). 
Genus TYLOSURUS Cocco. 
109. Tylosurus marinus (Biocu anp ScHNEIDER ). 
- The Silver Gar. 
Body long, slender and somewhat compressed. The depth of the body is less than 
one-fifth length of head ; the eye is rather large, two-fifths of the length of the post- 
orbital part of the head. The pectoral is as long as the postorbital part of the head 
and twice as long as the ventral. The distance of the dorsal from the root of the 
caudal is one-fourth its distance from the tip of the lower jaw. Theanal ends under 
the end of the dorsal and begins in advance of the dorsal origin. The ventral is 
almost equi-distant from the root of the caudal and the hind margin of the eye. 
D. 15 to 16; A. 15 to 17; V. 6. 
The body is green with a broad silvery band along the sides and a dark bar on the 
operculum. The scales and bones are green. 
The silver gar, soft gar, bill fish or needle fish is found along our 
coast from Maine to Texas, and although a marine species it ascends 
rivers far above the limits of tide. It has been found in the Susque- 
hanna at Bainbridge, Pa., andit alsoruns up the Delaware. This species 
reaches a length of four feet. It is very destructive to small fishes, 
which are readily seized in its long and strongly-toothed jaws. The 
species has no value as a food fish. In the Gulf of Mexico the habits 
of the silver gar have been observed by Mr. Silas Stearns, whose notes 
are to be found in the Fishery Industries of the United States. It is 
found at Pensacola, Florida, in the summer, but retreats farther south in 
the winter. 
The silver gar swims at the surface and feeds upon schools of small 
fish. Its movements are swift and its aim certain. It has been known 
to seize mullets and other fish one-third as large as itself and is some- 
times killed by attempting to swallow spiny fish too large to pass through 
its throat. It spawns in the baysin May andJune. Mr. Stearns found 
it to be an excellent food fish although it is seldom eaten on the Florida 
coast. 
7 Fisu. 
