SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 



159 



caudal deeply forked; length of pectorals a little less than postorbital part of head; ventrals 

 short, about .14 length of head, their base midway between eye and caudal base. Color : green 

 above, silvery white on sides and below; no lateral stripe; caudal keel black; anterior dorsal 

 and pectoral rays blackish, other fins whitish, {acus, needle.) 



A large West Indian gar-fish, straying to the east coast of the United States 

 as far north as Massachusetts. The North Carolina records are somewhat uncer- 

 tain, owing to the difficulty in determining just what species were represented by 

 Belone Mans of Jordan & Gilbert (1879) and Tylosurus caribbwus of Jordan (1886). 

 There is no doubt, however, that the present species properly belongs in the state 

 list, for on June 17, 1904, a specimen 4.5 inches long was seined in Beaufort 

 Harbor and is preserved in the laboratory; this little example is green above, 

 silvery on the sides, and white below, with all the fins white except the posterior 

 division of the dorsal, which is black, this color extending on the tail. Later 

 in the season a second specimen was taken at Beaufort by Dr. G. W. Gudger. 



Jordan & Evermann (1896) base a Beaufort record for Tylosurus acus on 

 Jordan's Tylosurus caribbceus of 1886, which in turn was founded on Jordan & 

 Gilbert's Belone Mans of 1879. Under the last name Jordan & Gilbert recorded 

 one specimen obtained by them at Beaufort in 1877, and stated that Professor 

 Goode had received a number of others from the North Carolina coast in the 

 same summer. 



136. TYLOSURUS OARIBB^US (LeSueur). 

 "Gar-fish"; Hound-fish. 



Belone caribboea LeSueur, Journal Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, ii, 1821, 127; Caribbean Sea. 

 Tylosurus caribbaeus, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 717, West Indies. Linton, 1905, 358; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Body compressed, broad, very long, the depth .05 total length with caudal; 

 head contained 3.4 times in length; jaws long, slender, and not closing completely; upper jaw 

 (anterior to eye) more than 2 times length of remainder of head; teeth rather weak; eye about 

 .10 length of entire head and .5 postorbital region; scales in lateral series 250 to 260; dorsal rays 

 24, the origin slightlybehindanaljlobelow, posterior rays sKghtlyelevated; anal rays 22, the fin 

 similar to dorsal; caudal fin moderately forked, upper lobe longer; a strong keel on peduncle; 

 ventrals inserted half-way between pupil and base of caudal. Color : green above, bluish white 

 on sides and below; a faint bluish lateral stripe; fins bluish. (Named after Caribbean Sea.) 



This gar-fish has heretofore been known only from the West Indies. In 

 August, 1902, 8 specimens were obtained in the bight of Cape Lookout by assist- 

 ants of the Bureau of Fisheries. One of the examples, examined by Professor 

 Linton, had been feeding on small crustaceans and insects. 



Genus ATHLENNES Jordan & Fordice. Flat-sided Gars. 



From Tylosurus this genus may be easily distinguished by the much com- 

 pressed body and the strongly arched base of the upper jaw. One species. 

 (Athlennes, without slime.) 



137. ATHLENNES HIANS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 

 Gar-fisli. 



Belone hians Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xviii, 432, 1846; Havana; Bahia. 

 Tl/JosMrus Wares, Jenkins, 1885, 11; Beaufort. Jordan, 1886, 26; Beaufort. .Jenkins, 1887, 86; Beaufort. 

 Athlennea hians, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 718. 



