FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
57 
Color in alcohol, greenish above, the sides brilliantly silvery, fins more or less darkened; inside 
of ventrals and pectorals blackish. 
Length 2 to 5 feet. Pacific and Indian oceans, on sandy shores, north to the Hawaiian Islands, 
where it is abundant. Our specimens from Honolulu are all under a foot in length. 
We have recently received from Mr. Berndt a singular-looking specimen extraordinarily short 
and deep. It is apparently a dwarf or hunchback example of this species. It has a much shorter 
and deeper head and body than the species usually possesses and the scales are narrower, but in other 
respects it differs but slightly from the ordinary type. Head 3.4; depth 2.5; depth of caudal peduncle 
7.5; length of caudal 1.8; pectoral 4; ventral 5; eye 3 in head; interorbital width 2.33; snout 3.5; 
D. 12; A. 9; scales 76, 26, 21 in front of dorsal. 
The awa is one of the most important food fishes of the Hawaiian Islands. It occurs about the 
various islands, but is most abundant around Honolulu. It is, next to the mullet (Ama ama), the 
most common species frequenting the artificial ponds, into which it runs with the mullet and with 
the tide and is restrained in the same way. It is held in esteem as a food fish, but we know nothing of 
its game qualities. Like the mullet, it is known by different names at different ages. The young are 
called “puawa;” those of medium size “awa awa; ” those of ordinary commercial size “awa;” while 
very large individuals are “awa kalamoku.” 
Mugil chanos Forskal, Descript. Animal., 74, 1775, Red Sea at Djidda, Arabia. 
Chanos arabicus LacOpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 396, 1803, Arabia. 
Lutocleira chanos, Riippell, Atlas zu der Reise ira Nordl. Africa, 18, pi. 5, fig. 1, 1828. 
Cyprinus pala Cuvier, R&gne Animal, Ed. 2, II, 22, 1829; after Russell. 
Cyprinus tolo Cuvier, op. cit., 222; after Russell. 
Leaciscus zeylonicus Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soe. Lond. 1832, 184, Ceylon. 
Chanos mento Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XIX, 194, 1846, lie de France. 
Chanos chloropterus Cuvier & Valenciennes, op. cit., 195, Madepolam. 
Chanos muchalis Cuvier & Valenciennes, op. cit., 196, Vizagapatam. 
Chanos orientaiis Kiihl in Cuvier & Valenciennes, op. cit., 197, Red Sea. 
Chanos cyprinella Cuvier & Valenciennes, op. cit., 198, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. 
Chanos salmoneus Cuvier & Valenciennes, op. cit., 201, 1846, between New Caledonia and Norfolk Island; Gunther, Rep. 
Shore Fish., Chall., Zool., I, part VI, 61, 1880 (Honolulu). 
Leuciscus ( Ptycholepis ) salmoneus, Gray, in Dieffenbach Trav. New Zeal., II, 218. 
Butirinus argenteus Jerdon, Madras Journ. Lit. Sci., XV, 1849, 343, Madras. 
Butirinus maderaspatensis Jerdon, op. cit., 344, Madras. 
Chanos indicus Bleeker, Enum. Pise. Ai-ch. Ind., 160, 1859, East Indies. 
Chanos chanos, Klunzinger, Verh. Bat. Zool. Gen. Wien, 1871, 605; Jordan & Evermann, Fishes North and Mid. Amer., 1, 
414, 1896; Steindachner, Denks. Ak. Wiss. Wien, LXX, 1900, 514 (Honolulu); Jenkins, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII. 
1902 (Sept. 23, 1903), 432 (Honolulu); Jordan <& Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, 1904 (Oct.), 123 (Honolulu). 
