244  Salmoperce and Other Transitional Groups 
coid, and especially by the structure of the ventral fins, 
which are composed of about fifteen rays instead of the one 
spine and five rays characteristic of the specialized perch- 
like fishes. The living forms of this type are further char- 
acterized by the partial or total absence of the spinous 
dorsal, by the small oblique mouth, and the prominence of 
the ventral curve of the body. A thorough study of the 
osteology of these forms living and fossil will be necessary 
before the group can be properly defined. The large bone 
above mentioned was at first considered by Boulenger as 
the interclavicle or infraclavicle, the hypocoracoid being re- 
garded by him as displaced, lying with the actinosts. But it 
is certain, from the studies of Mr. Starks, that this bone is the 
real hypocoracoid, which in this case is simply exaggerated in 
size, but placed as in ordinary fishes. 
The single living family, Lampridide, contains but one species, 
Lampris guttatus, known as opah, moonfish, mariposa, cravo, 
Jerusalem haddock, or San Pedro fish. This species reaches a 
length of six feet and a weight of 500 to 600 pounds. Fig. 199 
(Vol. I) is taken from a photograph of an example weighing 
317% pounds taken near Honolulu by Mr. E. L. Berndt. The 
body is almost as deep as long, plump and smooth, without scales 
or bony plates. The vertebrae are forty-five in number, and the 
large ventrals contain about fifteen rays. The dorsal is without 
spines, the small mouth without teeth. The color is a “rich 
brocade of silver and lilac, rosy on the belly, everywhere with 
round silvery spots.’ The head and back have ultramarine 
tints, the jaws and fins are vermilion. On a drawing of this 
fish made at Sable Island in 1856, Mr. James Farquhar wrote 
(to Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin): “Just imagine the body, a beau- 
tiful silver interspersed with spots of a lighter color about the 
size of sixpence, the eyes very large and brilliant, with a golden 
ring around them. ‘You will then have some idea of the splen- 
did appearance of the fish when fresh. If Caligula had seen 
them I might have realized a fortune.”’ 
The skeleton of the opah is very firm and heavy. The 
flesh is of varying shades of salmon-red, tender, oily, and of 
a rich, exquisite flavor scarcely surpassed by any other fish 
whatsoever. 
