THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 359 



Genus Alutera Cuvier. 



The File Fishes. 



Alutera schoepfii (Walbaum). 



Plate 76. 



Orange File Fish. Sun Fish. Unicorn Fish. 



Head 3^ ; depth 2j^ ; D. 37; A. 42; snout iVio '^^ head meas- 

 ured from tip of mandible; eye 5^; interorbital space 4J/8 ; 

 height of interorbital space 3^ ; twelfth dorsal ray 3^/7 ; twenty- 

 first anal ray 3^^; least depth of caudal peduncle 3% ; pectoral 

 2,y3 ; caudal 2j/^ in head and trunk. Body oblong or rather elon- 

 gate, strongly compressed, edges trenchant. Head large, lower 

 profile evenly convex. Snout long, with concave profile. Eye 

 circular, high, small, and its posterior margin about midway be- 

 tween tip of snout and origin of dorsal. Mouth small. Upper 

 jaw with a double series of incisor-like teeth. Lower jaw with 

 uniserial incisors directed obliquely upward and backward as 

 mandible protrudes. Teeth unequal and connivent. A slight de- 

 pression at base of upper jaw. Interorbital space high. Gill- 

 opening an oblique slit equal to twice eye-diameter, placed below 

 and in advance of same, and its posterior end behind base of 

 pectoral. Body covered with minute rough scales, shagreen-like 

 and uniform. Dorsal spine small, inserted above anterior margin 

 of eye, rough, without barbs. Rayed dorsal at highest obtuse 

 angle of upper profile, or midway between origin of dorsal spine 

 and base of its last ray. Anal similar and inserted about op- 

 posite. Caudal long, convex. Pectoral small, inserted opposite 

 anterior margin of pupil. Pelvic bone long, falcate, movable 

 under skin, and without terminal spine. Color dirty-gray. 

 Length lo}^ inches. Beesley's Point. 



Reaches a length of 2 feet and useless as food. I also have ex- 

 amples from Squan River. 



Alutera schoepifi Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., V, 1887, p. 134. — 

 Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 363. 



Ceratacanthus aiirantiacus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 827. 



Alutera cuspicauda Abbott, 1. c. 



