186 
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF FISHERIES 
Order AULOSTOMI 
Family XLIV. — FISTULARilDAi. The comet fishes 
Body very elongate, much depressed, always broader than deep; head very long, the anterior 
bones much produced, forming a long tube, terminating in a small mouth; both jaws and usually 
the vomer and palatines with small teeth; branchiostegals 5 to 7; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; 
scales wanting; bony plates on various parts of the body, mostly covered by skin; a single dorsal, 
placed posteriorly; caudal fin forked, the middle ray produced into a long filament; anal fin similar 
to dorsal and opposite it; ventral fins abdominal, far in advance of dorsal, with I, 4 rays; pectoral 
fins small, preceded by a smooth area. 
70. Genus FISTULARXA Linnaeus. Trumpet fishes 
The characters of the genus are included in the family description. 
92. Fistularia tabacaria Linnaeus. Trumpet fish; “ Tobacco trumpet fish.” 
Fistularia tabacaria Linnssus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, p. 312; “Tropical America.” Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 757, 
Head 2.7 to 2.8; depth 28 to 37 (10 to 13 in head) ; D. 14 or 15; A. 13 to 15. Body very elongate, 
strongly compressed; head in the vicinity of the eye quadrate, slightly broader than deep; snout 
very long, depressed, its length 1.35 to 1.4 in head; eye 9.8 to 11.5; interorbital (bone) 4.7 to 5.5 in 
postorbital part of head; mouth oblique; lower jaw projecting; maxillary broad posteriorly, about 
10 in head; skin slightly rough; lateral line posteriorly armed with bony scutes, these not evident in 
young; dorsal and anal fins similar, opposite each other, both somewhat elevated; caudal fin forked,, 
the middle ray produced into a long filament; ventral fins small, inserted nearer base of caudal than 
tip of snout; pectoral fins rather small, 9 to 10 in head. 
Color in life greenish brown above; pale below; sides with a row of blue spots close to vertebral- 
line on back; sides and back with about 10 dark crossbars; caudal filament deep blue; the spots and 
bars disappearing in preserved specimens, leaving the back uniform brown. 
This species is represented by four specimens ranging, without the caudal filament, from 190 
to 285 millimeters (734 to 1134 inches) in length. This fish is peculiar in the greatly prolonged 
snout, which is somewhat similar to that of the pipefishes. The skin, however, is mostty naked, 
and the caudal fin is provided with a long filament. 
The four specimens at hand had all fed on fish and one of them had also fed on shrimp and the 
ova probably of a fish. Its life history is virtually unknown. 
The trumpet fish is interesting because of its peculiar structure, but it is without economic 
value. It is typically a tropical fish, said to be common in the West Indies and neighboring seas, 
but occasionally straying north in late summer as far as Woods Hole, Mass. Only one specimen 
has been recorded north of Nantucket, taken at Rockport, Mass., in September, 1865. (Goode 
and Bean, 1879, p. 4.) In the Chesapeake, where it is very rare, it probably enters the bay only 
late in the summer or early in the fall, when the water outside the capes is at its maximum 
temperature. The four specimens taken in this investigation were all caught on September 23, 
1921, at the very end of Cape Charles in six hauls of a 250-foot bag seine. The maximum length 
attained is said to be about 6 feet. 
Habitat . — Cape Cod to Rio Janeiro. 
