614 NEW YORK STATE MUSEIUM 



Alutera schoepfii Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 3, 1879; Bean, 

 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 369, 189T; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. 

 F. O. 1897, 104, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 1718, 1898, pi. OOLX, fig. 636, 1900; Bean, 52d Ann. Rep. N. Y. 

 State Mus. 107, 1900. 



Body oblong, rather elongate, narrowed posteriorly; ttie great- 

 est depth four ninths or nearly one half of total length without 

 caudal ; least depth of caudal peduncle nearly one third length of 

 head. Profile of head very ohlique; space between dorsals al- 

 most horizontal; ventral outline convex. Head short, its length 

 contained three and one fourth times in total without caudal; 

 the gill opening oblique, two and one half times as long as the 

 eye; eye small, one fifth as long as the head; twice its own diam- 

 eter from top of head, and placed far back over the posterior part 

 of the gill opening; snout one fourth of total length without cau- 

 dal; mouth very small, the lower jaw prominent. Dorsal spine 

 slender, varying greatly in length, placed over the eye. Inter- 

 space between the dorsals as long as the head. Base of second 

 dorsal one third of total length without caudal; the longest dor- 

 sal ray equals one third length of dorsal base; the outline of the 

 fin greatly convex. Caudal moderately long in adult, rounded 

 behind, much produced in young; the middle rays in adult as 

 long as the snout. Anal similar to soft dorsal, but extending 

 farther back, its base somewhat longer than dorsal base, its 

 longest rays equal to longest of dorsal. Pectoral short, one 

 third as long as the head. Scales minute, shagreenlike, uniform 

 over the body. D. I, 36; A. 38. ^ , 



Coloration nearly uniform dirty olive gray, varying to orange 

 yellow, often, specially when young, mottled above with darker 

 bluish or dull orange; caudal sometimes dusky, edged with white, 

 usually dull yellowish in the adult. Length 24 inches. 



The orange filefish is found from Cape Cod to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, the young usually abundant every summer on the south 

 shore of Long Island and in the bays. 



The young are rather common in Gravesend bay in August, 

 September, October, and sometimes as late as November. Adults 

 are rarely seen. The species will not survive the winter except 



