Systematic catalogue of fishEs l67 



144. OYPSELURUS LUTKENI (Jordan & Evermann) . 



Flying-fish. 



Exoccetua robuatus, Jordan & Meek, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, 1885, 61; "Cape San Antonio" (not 



E. robustus Giinther from Australia). ^^^ ' 



ExooBtus lutkeni Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 736; "Cape San Antonio, Cuba"- 

 CypBilurus lutkeni, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2836. 

 Cypaelurua lutkeni, Smith, Science (N. Y.), May 12, 1905; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Depth contained 5.5 times in length to end of vertebral column; head 

 broad, contained 4.5 times in length; snout .66 eye and less than .25 length of head; eye very 

 large, more than .33 head and greater than interorbital width; scales in lateral series about 50, 

 . rows of scales between. dorsal fin and lateral line 7 or 8; dorsal rays 14, anal rays 8 or 9; the 

 longest anal ray .66 longest dorsal; lower caudal lobe much the longer, 1.25 times head; pec- 

 torals very broad and long, their lips extending to posterior end of base of anal, .66 total length; 

 first pectoral ray simple and .6 length of fin, second ray branched, third ray longest; ventrals 

 .33 length of body, their tips extending as far back as those of pectorals, the center of the base 

 midway between base of caudal and pupil. Color: brownish above, silvery below; dorsal and 

 anal fins white, caudal dusky; pectorals white anteriorly, black posteriorly, the white extending 

 as a broad oblique band from base, across middle, nearly to upper margin, posterior edge of fin 

 pale; ventrals blackish posteriorly. (Named after the European ichthyologist Christian 

 Liitken, author of an important paper on the flying-fishes.) 



Fig. 66. Flying-fish 



Only 2 specimens of this fish are known. The type is in the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and bears a label which is obviously incorrect — 

 "near Cape San Antonio, California, Dr. H. C. Yarrow"— for there is no such 

 cape in California, and Dr. Yarrow has informed the author that he never col- 

 lected fishes at Cape San Antonio or elsewhere in Cuba. It is quite probable 

 that this fish was obtained at Beaufort, N. C, by Dr. Yarrow and was one of the 

 numerous collection of fishes from that region presented by him to the academy. 

 In this view Mr. Henry W. Fowler, curator of fishes, concurs. The second 

 specimen was caught in a mullet net in Beaufort Harbor, October 3, 1904, and 

 presented to the laboratory by Mr. J. H. Potter. It has been compared with the 

 type and found to agree in every essential particular. The type, however, 

 lacks the blackish area on the posterior part of the ventrals, and has a well 

 defined dark vertical bar at base of caudal. 



