330 NEW YORK STATE MUSEIUM ' 



Family exocoetidj^e^ 



Flying Fishes 



■ Genus exoooetus (Artedi) Linnaeus 



Body elongate, broad above, somewhat compressed; head 

 short, blunt, narrowed below; mouth small; jaws very short, 

 about equal; chin without barbel; maxillaries not joined to the 

 premaxillaries;* teeth very feeble or wanting; eyes large; gill 

 rakers moderate; scales large, deciduous; no finlets; dorsal fin 

 short, opposite anal; caudal widely forked, the lower lobe the 

 longer; pectoral fins very long, reaching past the beginning of 

 the anal, and serving as organs of flight, their great size en- 

 abling these fishes to sustain themselves in the air for some 

 time; ventral fins large, posteriorly inserted, also used as organs 

 of flight; air bladder very large; no pyloric caeca. Species 

 numerous in all warm seas, living mostly in the open water and 

 swimming in large schools. 



Subgenus exocoetus 



164 Exocoetus volitans Linnaeus 



Flying Fish 



Exocoetus volitans Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 316, 1758; Joedan & Meek, 



Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 57, 1885; Jokdan & Eveemann, Bull. 47, U. S. 



Nat. Mus. 734, 1896, pi. CXVIII, fig. 318, 1900. 

 Exocoetus rubescens Rafinesque, Amer. Month. Mag. II, 205, January, 1818, 



Banks of Newfoundland. 

 Exocoetus affinis Gunthee, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VI, 288, 1866. 

 Exocoetus melanurus Joedan & Gilbeet, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 379, 



1883. 

 Exocoetus exiliens Joedan & Gilbeet, op. cit. 380 and 904, 1883. 



The hight of the body is nearly one sixth of the total length 

 without caudal, the length of the head one fourth. The depth 

 of the head equals the distance from the tip of the snout to 

 'the hind margin of the orbit. Snout little produced, shorter 

 than eye, which is two sevenths to one third as long as the head; 

 interorbital space flat or slightly concave, slightly greater than 

 diameter of eye; width of body at pectoral base four sevenths 

 of length of head; dorsal origin opposite anal origin, length of 

 longest dorsal ray two fifths of length of head; anal fin long, its 



