84 



FISH GALLERY. 



persistent notochord. In the Pholidophoridse the scales are 

 rhombic, in the other two families they are cycloid. The fins 

 have fulcra in the Pholidophoridse and Oligopleuridse, but not in 

 the Leptolepidee. 

 Elopidfe. Of the living Teleostean fishes the most primitive are the 

 Elopidse. This family includes the Tarpon of Florida {Megalops 

 atlanticus, 1110, Floor-case 27, and fig. 47), the Ox-eye (Mega- 

 lops cyprinoides, 234), the Ten-pounder (Elops saurus, 233), 

 and some extinct forms. The scales are not deciduous as they 

 are in the Herrings (Clupea), the dorsal and anal fins are small, 

 the former with short base and situated about the middle of the 

 length of the body ; the pectoral fins are set low down the sides 

 of the body ; the pelvic fins have 10-16 fin-rays. The mouth is 

 wide and terminal, the teeth are minute and uniform in character. 

 There is a single median jugular plate, a bone which occurs in 

 no other living Teleostean fishes. 



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Fi«. 47. — Tarpon, Megalops atlanticus. 

 (From Boulenger, Camb. Nat. Hist., vii, 1904, after Goode.) 



Elops saurus (233) is a fish of wide distribution in tropical and 

 sub-tropical seas, and very common in the open sea along the 

 coast of southern United States, where it is known as the " Ten- 

 pounder." The fish is not valued as food except by such people 

 as the Hawaiians and Japanese who eat fishes raw. The young 

 are delicate and ribbon-shaped, like those of the Lady-fish 

 (Albula) and the Eel. 



Megalops differs from Elops in having large scales (235), 

 a large, short head, with oblique mouth of moderate size, and 

 with a projecting lower jaw; the last ray of the dorsal fin is 



