FISHES OF NEW YORK 17T 



of 1879 Dr Hermes received a number of small sea eels taken in 



the vicinity of Havre. These eels ate greedily and grew rapidly. 



Only one was tardy in its development, so that it could easiljr 



be distinguished from the rest. This one died June 20, 1880, 



and was examined the same day. It proved to be a sexually 



mature male and served to clear up some very doubtful problems 



in the reproduction of the species, as well as its ally, the common. 



eel. 



Order ISOSPONDYLI 



Isospandyloiis Fishes 



Family elopidae 

 Tarpons 

 Genus tarpon Jordan & Evermann 

 Body oblong, compressied, covered with very large, thicks 

 silvery, cycloid scales; belly narrow, but not carinated, its edge 

 with ordinary scales; mouth large, oblique, the lower jaw prom- 

 inent, maxillary broad, extending beyond the eye; villiform teeth 

 on jaws, vomer, palatines, tongue, sphenoid, and pterygoid bones; 

 eye very large, with an adipose eyelid; lateral line nearly 

 straight, its tubes radiating widely over the surface of the 

 scales; branchiostegals 23; pseudobranchiae wanting; gill rakers 

 long and slender; dorsal fin short and high, inserted behind the 

 ventrals (over the ventrals in M e g a 1 o p s ), its last ray elon- 

 gate and filamentous as in M e g a 1 o p s , D o r o s o m a , and 

 Opisthonema ; anal fin much longer than dorsal, falcate, 

 its last ray produced; caudal widely forked; pectorals and 

 ventrals rather long; anal with a sheath of scales; dorsal naked; 

 caudal more or less scaly; a collar of large scales at the nape. 

 Vertebrae about 57 (28+29). Size very large, the largest of the 

 herringlike fishes. (After Jordan and Evermann) 



103 Tarpon atlanticus (Cuv. & Yal.) 

 Tarpum; Tarpon; Grande Ecaille; Silver King 



Megalops 'atlanticus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. XIX, 39*3^ 



1S46. Guadal'oupe. 

 Megalops elongatus Girahd, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pbila. 224, 1858, Long Island. 

 Megalops thrissoides Gunther, Cat. Fisla. Brit. Mus. VII, 472, 1868; Jordan 



& Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 262, 1883; Goode, Fish & Fish. 



Ind. U. S. I, 610, pi. 217 B, 1884; American Fishes, 406, fig. 1888. 



