316 ^NBW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Esox ovinus Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 441, pi. IV, fig. T, 



1815, New York. 

 LeUas ovinus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 215, pi. 27, fig. 84, 1842. 

 Lehias ellipsoides Le Sueur, Jour. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. II, 6, pi. 2, figs. 1, 2, 



1821; Storer, Syn. Fish. N. A. 179, 1846. 



Body short and stout, heavy anteriorly, its width more than 

 one half its hight, its greatest hight two fifths to nearly one 

 half of total length to base of caudal, the males higher than 

 the females; caudal peduncle short, its least depth equal to 

 postorbital part of head; head conical, its width at gill covers 

 equal to its length without the snout, its length one third of 

 total without caudal; jaws very short, mouth small, terminal^ 

 slightly oblique when closed, the lower jaw somewhat promi- 

 nent, the upper protractile; the maxilla curved abruptly down- 

 ward at the end, about as long as the eye, not reaching to the 

 front margin of the orbit; eye circular, longer than snout, not 

 quite one fourth as long as the head, placed near the top of the 

 skull, about two thirds of width of interorbital space; dorsal 

 origin a little nearer to tip of snout than to base of middle 

 caudal rays, the dorsal base, in males, as long as the head with- 

 out the snout, three and two thirds in total length without 

 caudal, the longest dorsal ray, in males, about equal to length 

 of head, and twice as long as the last ray. The ventral reaches 

 nearly or quite to anal origin, its length one half length of head. 

 The anal base is two fifths as long as the head, its longest ray 

 one fifth of total without caudal. The pectoral is narrow and 

 as long as the head in males, reaching almost to the beginning 

 of the anal; in females it is not quite so long as the head, and 

 does not reach beyond the middle of the ventral. Caudal fin 

 short and truncate, its length about one fourth of the total 

 without caudal, and about equal to the head without the snout. 

 D. 11; A. 10; B. 6. Scales 17-28. 



This is known in Great South bay as the porgy mummy. 

 Mitchill recorded it as more rare than the other killifishes. 

 DeKay has it as the Sheepshead Lebias. 



This little fish seldom exceeds 2 inches in length. The males 

 are more brightly colored and higher bodied than the females, 

 and have a narrow, dark margin to the caudal fin. 



