SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 



207 



teeth in front of lower jaw; gill-rakers long, 12 below angle of first arch; scutes in lateral line 

 35; dorsal rays vni + i,22; anal rays ii + i,16 to 18; pectorals length of head. Color: bluish 

 above, with silvery or golden sides and abdomen; a small black opercular spot; young with 

 black cross-bands; caudal yellow; no spot on pectorals, {latus, broad.) 



Fig. 85. JuREL. Caranx latus. 



From the West Indies and South America, this species ranges northward to 

 Virginia; it is also found on the west coast of Mexico. It was first recorded from 

 North CaroHna in 1885, when Jenkins obtained a few specimens at Beaufort. 

 Specimens have recently been obtained at Perry Island and Bird Shoal, and out- 

 side the harbor by the Fish-Hawk on August 14, 1902. A pound net belonging 

 to the Beaufort laboratory caught 19 specimens in the second and third weeks 

 of August, 1905, but took none during the remainder of the season. From time 

 immemorial the sale of this fish. has been prohibited in Cuba because of the 

 numerous cases of illness (ciguatera) which have followed its use. 



Genus ALECTIS Rafinesque. Thread-fishes. 

 Body deep, rhomboid, much compressed; scales minute, embedded; bony 

 plates on straight part of lateral line; teeth in villiform bands on jaws, tongue, 

 vomer, .and palatines; dorsal spines short and rudimentary, mostly disappearing 

 with age; soft dorsal and anal fins similar, the first 5 or 6 rays thread-like; ventrals 

 short; pectorals falcate. In the young, the body is more orbicular, the 

 thread-like rays are longer, and the ventrals are longer than in the adult. Sev- 

 eral species, only one American. {Alectis, chicken-cock, in allusion to the names 

 sea-cock, sea-hen, and fish-cock applied to these and similar fishes in olden times.) 



180. ALECTIS CILIARIS (Blooh). 

 "Moon-fish"; "Shoemaker"; Thread-fish; Cobbler-fish. 



Zeua ciliaris Bloch, Ichthyologie, vi, 29, 1788: East Indies. 



Blepharichthys crinitus, Yarrow, 1877, 208; Beaufort. 



Alectris criniiua, Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 376; Beaufort (after Yarrow). 



Caranx crinitus, Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. 



Alectis ciliaris, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 931. 



