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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
to visit mainly that section of the bay that lies southward from the mouth of the Rappahannock 
River. The fish taken in the spring, among the specimens at hand, are very thin and poor, but 
those collected during the fall are fat and have broad, round backs. 
Habitat . — Middle Atlantic States, southward to Brazil, and occasionally straying northward 
to Massachusetts. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Tributaries of Chesapeake Bay in the salt water 
(Uhler and Lugger, 1876); Cape Charles City (Bean). ( b ) Specimens seen or taken during the 
present investigation: York River, Va., July 8, 1921; Buckroe Beach, June 22, 1921; Lynnhaven 
Roads, May 25, 1922, and September 26, 1921. 
28. Genus BREVOORTIA Gill. Menhadens 
Body elongate, compressed, tapering posteriorly; head large; cheeks notably deeper than 
long; abdomen compressed and provided with bony scutes; mouth large; lower jaw included; 
teeth wanting; gill rakers long, thin, and numerous; scales deeper than long, closely imbricated, 
strongly pectinate; alimentary canal long; peritoneum black; vertebrae 46 to 49; fins small. A 
single species is known from Chesapeake Bay. 
38. Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe). Menhaden; Skipjack; Bunker; Moss bunker; Alewife; 
Fatback; Bugfish. 
Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, Trans., Amer. Phil. Soc., Phila., V, 1802, p. 77, PI. I, Chesapeake Bay. 
Brevoortia menhaden Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 156; ed. II, p. 133. 
Brevoortia tyrannus Bean, 1883, p. 366; Bean, 1891, p. 93; Smith, 1892, p. 04; Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p.433. 
PI. LXXIII, fig. 195; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 184; Evermann and Hildebrand, 1910, p. 158; Fowler, 1912, p. 52. 
Head 2.9 to 3.4; depth 2.4 to 3.8; D. 18 to 20; A. 20 to 22; scales in oblique series along 
median line of side 48 to 56. Body elongate, compressed, the ventral outline much more strongly 
curved than the dorsal; abdomen compressed, with sharp scutes on the ventral edge; head large, 
compressed; snout rather blunt, 3.8 to 5.5 in head; eye 4 to 5.9; interorbital 3.9 to 5.8; cheeks and 
opercles very deep, the upper part of opercle in adult with strong radiations, less prominent ones on 
the lower part of the preopercle; mouth moderate, terminal, the lower jaw largely included in the 
upper, the latter with a deep notch anteriorly; maxillary broad, rounded posteriorly, reaching past 
eye, in the adult, to middle of eye in young about 50 millimeters long; teeth in the jaws in the very 
young weak, disappearing entirely early in life; gill rakers extremely long, slender, close-set and 
exceedingly numerous; scales very closely imbricate, strongly pectinate, irregularly placed on upper 
part of sides, but in more definite series below median line of sides, the posterior margins nearly 
vertical instead of rounded, as in the herrings; lateral line wanting; dorsal fin rather small, some- 
what elevated anteriorly, with a sheath of scales at base, except in the very young, origin of fin about 
equidistant from tip of snout and base of caudal; caudal fin rather deeply forked, the lower lobe 
somewhat the longer; anal fin rather long and low, slightly elevated anteriorly, its origin under 
tips of last rays of dorsal; ventral fins small, inserted slightly behind vertical from origin of dorsal; 
pectoral fin moderate, inserted slightly in advance of posterior margin of opercle, 1.7 to 2.1 in head. 
