FAMILY SCOMBRID^ CARANX. 121 



Color. Back bluish, with a resplendent golden yellow on the sides. Ventrals, anal and 

 caudal wax-yellow ; the tips of the latter dusky. A dark round spot on the posterior margin 

 of the opercle ; another on the inner base of the pectoral, and occasionally a short black ver- 

 tical bar across the middle of the pectoral fin. Dorsals brownish above. Chin satin-white. 

 Irides golden, varied with black. 



Length, 9'0. Transverse diameter, 1'2. 



Fin rays, D. 7.1.20; P. 20; V. 1.5; A. 2.17; C. 19 |. 



This is perhaps one of the most gorgeously beautiful fishes to be found in our waters. I 

 had long considered it to be the C. hippos of Mitchill ; but its form, absence of finlets, re- 

 cumbent spine, and other particulars noticed above, render this highly improbable. They 

 usually appear in September, if the season has been warm, and in some years are very 

 abundant. I have rarely seen them to exceed the dimensions given above. In one of the 

 drawings of my friend Dr. Holbrook, I notice the figure of a species which agrees entirely 

 with mine, but which has three anal spines, and the first ray of the first dorsal is shorter than 

 the second. 



THE YELLOW CARANX. 



Caranx crysos. 



PLATE XXVII. FIG. 85. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



The Yellow Mackerel, Scomber crysos. Mitchill, Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 424. 

 La Carangue jaune. Cuv. et Val, Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 9, p. 97. 



Characteristics. Body elongated. Depth one-fourth of its total length. With a recumbent 

 spine before the dorsal. No finlets. A very small black spot on the 

 opercle. Length 6 to 8 inches. 



Description. Body elongated, compressed. Scales small, caducous, concentrically striate, 

 and extending over the suborbitals. Lateral line widely curved in front, and when opposite 

 the fourth ray of the second dorsal, goes off straight with about forty-six spinous plates, 

 becoming gradually wider behind, with stronger and more elevated spines, until they nearly 

 surround the tail. Forehead arched. Eyes large. Nostrils double, approximated, obliquely 

 oval. Lower jaw longest, with a series of minute card teeth. Asperities on the vomer and 

 palatines. Tongue distinct, rounded ; its surface covered with minute teeth. Margin of the 

 opercle rounded. 



The first dorsal fin is triangular, and in advance of it a short recumbent spine, as in the 

 preceding species. This fin is composed of eight spinous rays ; the first short, slender, and 

 closely attached to the second, which is shorter than the third ; the fourth longest, and all 

 received into a deep furrow. The second dorsal is composed of twenty-five rays ; has a 

 fleshy prolongation, covering a part of the bases of more than half of the anterior rays. Its 

 first ray is very short and spinous ; the third, fourth and fifth longest, and subequal ; from 



Fauna — Part 4. 16 



