THE TARPON 



"The Tabpons 



Family IX. Elopidae 



"Body elongate, more or less compressed, covered 

 with silvery cycloid scales ; head naked ; mouth broad, 

 terminal, the lower jaw prominent; premaxiUaries not 

 protractile, short, the maxillaries forming the lateral 

 margins of the upper jaw; an elongate, bony plate 

 between the branches of the lower jaw ; eye large with 

 an adipose eyelid ; bands of villif orm teeth in each jaw 

 and on vomer, palatines, pterygoids, tongue and base 

 of skuU; no large teeth; opercular bones, thin with 

 expanded membranous borders; a scaly occipital 

 collar; gill-membranes entirely separate, free from 

 isthmus; branchiostegals numerous (25 to 35); gill 

 rakers long and slender ; beUy not keeled nor serrated, 

 rather broad and covered with ordinary scales ; lateral 

 line present ; dorsal fin inserted over or slightly behind 

 the ventrals ; caudal fin forked ; no adipose fin ; dorsal 

 and anal depressible into a sheath of scales ; pectorals 

 and ventrals each with a very long, accessory scale; 

 pyloric caeca numerous. 



"Genera, 3, species 4 or 5 forming two well marked 

 subfamilies, both widely distributed in the tropical 

 seas. The species are not much valued as food, the 

 flesh being dry and bony, but they are among the 

 greatest of game fishes. In our waters we have two 

 genera, each represented by a single species. 



"(a) Pseudobranchiae none; body oblong, cov- 

 ered with large scales; anal fin larger than the 



