FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
153 
The alimentary canal is almost a straight tube, without a definite differentiation between the 
stomach and intestine. The food of the adult, according to the contents of eight stomachs, con- 
sists of small crustaceans, mollusks, and vegetable matter. 
The ovary is single. Spawning takes place during summer, and the mature egg, when it is 
first laid, is approximately 2 millimeters in diameter, almost transparent, and semibuoyant. The 
very young have no “beak,” but in specimens 15 millimeters in length its development has defi- 
nitely begun. Specimens 100 to 200 millimeters in length have a proportionately longer beak than 
larger ones. 
The youngest specimen (3 millimeters long), taken with a bottom net (July 8), had recently 
been hatched. Specimens taken with townets (June 10-11 and July 8-9) were 15 to 19 millimeters 
in length, measured from upper jaw. By the end of July many fish 24 to 49 millimeters long were 
taken with collecting seines. 
The halfbeaks are commonly seen swimming near the surface. Their movements are often 
sudden and quick, making them rather difficult to capture, and because of their slenderness they 
pass through all except the smallest meshed nets. The greatest length attained is little in excess 
of 1 foot. 
Habitat . — Cape Cod to Brazil, rarely straying to Maine; most common from Chesapeake Bay 
southward; on the Pacific coast from the Gulf of California to the Galapagos Islands. 
Fig. 81. — Hyporltamphus unijasciatus 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: St. Marys County, “southern part of Chesa- 
peake Bay,” and Cape Charles city, (b) Specimens in collection: From many points from Balti- 
more, Md., south to Cape Charles and Ocean View, Va., generally common; also taken in brackish 
water in the lower courses of streams. 
52. Genus HEMIRAMPHUS Cuvier. Halfbeaks 
Body more robust than in Hyporhamphus; sides nearly vertical and parallel; lower jaw much 
produced, usually longer than rest of head; air bladder divided into many compartments, cellular; 
dorsal fin a little longer than the anal and its origin a little farther forward, its last ray slightly 
produced; ventral fins inserted far backward, much nearer base of caudal than gill opening. 
70. Hemiramphus brasiliensis (Linnseus). 
Esox brasiliensis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, 314; Jamaica. 
Hemnhamphus pleei Bean, 1891, p. 92. 
Hemiramphus brasiliensis Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 722, PI. CXVII, fig. 313; Fowler, 1912, p. 54. 
Head 4.3 to 4.6; depth 5.4 to 6.3; D. 13 or 14; A. 11 to 13; scales 53 to 57. Body elongate, 
compressed, the sides vertical; head rather low; mandible much produced, its length from tip 
of upper jaw 3.3 to 3.9 in length of body; snout 2.8 to 3.5 in head; eye 3.6 to 4.1; teeth in jaws 
short, mostly in three series; gill rakers very short, 21 to 24 on lower limb of first arch; dorsal fin 
placed posteriorly, the last ray slightly produced; caudal fin forked, the lower lobe much the larger; 
anal fin small, beginning under middle of base of dorsal; ventral fins small, inserted about half 
as far from base of caudal as tip of upper jaw; pectorals 5.9 to 6.8 in body. 
Color dusky brown above; sides and below bright silvery; median part of back with an indis- 
tinct dark streak, with a black fine on each side; an inconspicuous dark streak extending from 
upper angle of gill opening to base of caudal; dorsal, caudal, and pectoral with more or less dusky; 
other fins pale. (The caudal fin is said to be orange in life.) 
This fish does not occur in the present collection. It was reported from Cape Charles city 
by Bean (1891, p. 92), under the name H. pleei, as more common than II. unijasciatus. Jordan 
and Evermann (1896-1900, p. 722) record a specimen from Hungers Wharf, Va., and Fowler 
