1-60 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Diagnosis. — Body elongate, strongly compressed, the depth more than twice breadth and 

 .9 length; jaws long, slender, twice length of remainder of head, upper jaw with an upward 

 curve at base; maxillary covered by preorbital; eye .4 length of postorbitaJ part of head; scales 

 minute, over 500 in lateral series ; a fold of skin across preopercle ; dorsal fin falcate, beginning in 

 advance of anal, the rays i,24; anal fin falcate, the rays i,25; caudal deeply forked; pectorals 

 long and falcate; ventrals inserted nearer to anterior edge of eye than to base of caudal. Color: 

 green above, silvery on sides; no lateral ^'tripe; fins black-tipped; young with dark blotches. 

 {hians; gaping.) 



The normal range of this gar in the Atlantic is from Florida to Brazil, but 

 stragglers have from time to time been reported to the northward as far as Massa- 

 chusetts (whence the present writer recorded the species) . The first North 

 Carolina record was that of Dr. Jenkins, who reported the species as common at 

 Beaufort in 1885, not being distinguished from Tylosurus marinus by the fisher- 

 men. A specimen 14 inches long was taken atBeaufort in the summer of 1903, 

 and in 1905 various others were caught in a pound net in the harbor : 1 August 1 1 , 

 and other August 21, and 5 young August 23. The maximum length attained is 

 about 3 feet, and the habits are similar to those of the related gars. 



Family HEMIRHAMPHIDiE. The Half-beaks or Balaos. 



Small shore fishes, the typical forms readily distinguished by their greatly 

 produced lower jaw. The general shape is similar to that of the gars. Body 

 elongate, c.ompressed; upper jaw short and forming a flexible, flat, triangular 

 plate; lower jaw (in local species) very long and slender, with a membranous flap 

 below, toothed only at the base where it is in contact with upper jaw; maxillary 

 firmly united to premaxillary; teeth small, tricuspid; gill-rakers long and slender; 

 lateral Hne placed low on side; scales large, cycloid, in regular rows; air-bladder 

 large; dorsal and anal fins small, on posterior third of total length; caudal forked 

 or lunate; ventrals small, posterior, placed nearer to anal fin than to gill-open- 

 ing; pectorals small. Species numerous, surface-swimming, and herbivorous; 

 some Old World forms are viviparous. Of the 4 American genera 2 are repre- 

 sented in North Carolina, and may be thus distinguished: 



i. Sides of body convex; air-bladder not cellular; ventrals inserted considerably in advance of 



dorsal; dorsal and anal similar and opposite Hyporhamphus. 



a. Sides of body flat, vertical; air-bladder cellular; ventrals inserted but little anterior to dorsal; 

 dorsal larger than anal and beginning anterior to anal Hemirhamphus. 



Genus HYPORHAMPHUS Gill. Half-beaks. 



Form slender, compressed, the sides more or less bulging; body scales 

 large, deciduous, top of head covered with large plate-like scales; dorsal and anal 

 fins low, and alike in size and relative position; caudal fin slightly forked or 

 deeply incised, the lobes of about equal length; ventrals very small, inserted 

 about midway between gill-opening and caudal base; air-bladder large and 

 simple; sides with a bright silvery band. Three or four American species, only 

 one of which ranges along our east coast. {Hyporhamphus, beaked below.) 



