174 UPPER CRETACEOUS TELEOSTS 
Ichthyotringa agrees with Elops but not with the salmonoids in the possession of 
two long, narrow, rod-like uroneurals. Elops has a third smaller uroneural postero- 
dorsally, but this is not observed in Ichthyotringa, although present in Salmo 
(Norden, 1961). 
Fic. 81. Salmo gaivdneri. Caudal fin skeleton in lateral view. After Norden (1961). 
Six hypurals are evident in [chthyotringa and in this respect it is comparable to the 
salmonoids. The elopoids have seven hypurals, the seventh very small and 
practically hidden beneath the third uroneural. The arrangement and size of the 
hypurals is of characteristic form in Ichthyotringa. The two ural vertebrae are much 
reduced in length and strongly upturned, much more so than in either Elops or 
Salmo. In both of these latter genera the hypurals decrease in length from hypural 
one to hypural six (or seven). In Jchthyotringa the hypurals remain quite long and 
there is no equivalent to Monod’s (1967) “‘ hypurale minimum ’’, the small isolated 
last hypural. All of the hypurals in the upper caudal lobe of Ichthyotringa appear 
to attach to the small second ural vertebra. 
All of the elopoids and the salmonoids possess 17 branched caudal rays, as does 
Ichthyotringa. In the Ichthyotringoidei and the Salmonoidei no fulcral scales occur, 
but these are present in the elopoids. 
A feature noticed in the basal Salmoniformes is the tendency for the neural and 
haemal spines in the posterior caudal region to be considerably laterally compressed 
and expanded (Gosline, 1960 ; Norden, 1961 ; Vladykov, 1962). In the elopoids as 
well as in Ichthyotringa the posterior neural and haemal spines are long and narrow 
and drawn out in a posterior direction with no compression or expansion. 
On tail structure the Ichthyotringoidei show marked similarities to the Elopi- 
formes, and in other characters also resemble the elopoids, for example : 
