200 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
154. Carang-oides ajax Snyder. Plate 33, fig. 2. 
Head measured to end of opercular flap, 3.6 in length to base of caudal; depth 2.7; depth of 
caudal peduncle 7.7 in head; diameter of eye 5; width of interorbital space 3.5; length of snout 2.3; 
maxillary 2.3, D. 19; A. 16; plates in straight portion of lateral line about 32. 
Anterior profile elevated, the contour rising abruptly to a point above posterior margin of orbit; 
lower jaw slightly longer than upper; cleft of mouth almost horizontal, maxilliary reaching a vertical 
passing through center of pupil; width of suborbital area 4 in head. Teeth villiform, in bands on 
jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue; gillrakers on lower limb of first arch 14, the longest equal in 
length to width of posterior part of maxillary. 
Head naked, except a small area behind and below eye, where there are small, deeply embedded 
scales; body mostly naked, there being an irregularly outlined area along lateral line with small, 
embedded scales; lateral line much more arched than dorsal contour, the highest point of curve just 
anterior to insertion of dorsal, the straight part beginning below base of twelfth dorsal ray; 3 or 4 
posterior plates large, their length about half the depth of caudal peduncle; other plates growing 
smaller anteriorly, almost disappearing before curved portion of lateral line is reached; spinous 
dorsal not present; anal spines absent; anterior rays of both fins elevated, their height about 2.5 in 
head; caudal deeply forked, lobes of equal length, 1.2 in head; pectoral falcate, 1.1 in head; ventrals 
short, pointed, 2.3 in head. 
Color silvery, darker above, indistinctly marbled with dusky along the back; base of pectoral 
colored on posterior side, upper half brownish black, lower dead white; dorsal fin with a dusky 
margin. 
One specimen 38 inches long, from the market at Honolulu. Type, No. 50874, LI. S. Nat. Mus. 
Carangoides ajax Snyder, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., XXII, 1902 (Jan. 19, 1904), 524, pi. 8, fig. 15, Honolulu. 
Genus 115. ALECTIS Rafmesque. The Thread-Fishes. 
Body rhomboid, deep, strongly compressed, more or less completely covered with minute embed- 
ded scales, sometimes apparently naked; scutes on the straight portion of the lateral line enlarged, 
bony, and spinous, as in Carangus, but much less developed; mouth moderate, with bands of villiform 
teeth on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue; first dorsal fin little developed, the spines short and 
rudimentary, mostly disappearing with age; soft dorsal and anal similar to each other; the first 5 or 6 
rays of each fin elongate and filiform in the young, becoming shorter with age; ventral fins elongate 
in young, short in the adult; pectorals falcate; no finlets; caudal peduncle narrow', the caudal widely 
forked; gillrakers moderate, stout. This genus is not essentially different from Carangus, the great 
change in form arising from no important modification of the skeleton. The changes clue to age are 
surprisingly great, as Dr. Liitken has shown, the characters of the nominal genera being chiefly 
stages in the growth of individuals. The young individuals are almost orbicular in form, with the 
filaments excessively long. Tropical seas. 
Gallus LacCpede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 583, 1802 (virescens=ciliaris); name preoccupied in ornithology. 
Alectis Rafinesque, Analyse de la Nature, 84, 1815 (substitute lor Gallus, preoccupied). 
Blepharis .Cuvier, R5gne Animal, Ed.l, II, 322, 1817 ( ciliaris ) ; name preoccupied. 
Sci/ris Cuvier, Regne Animal, Ed. 2, II, 209, 1829 (indica). 
Gallichthys Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IX, 168, 1833 (gallus); substitute for Gallus, preoccupied. 
Blepharichthys Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1861, appendix, 36 (ciliaris); substitute for Blepharis , preoccupied. 
155. Alectis ciliaris (Bloch). “ Ulua kihikihi.” Fig. 78. 
Head 3.2 in length; depth 1.9; eye 3.8 in head; snout 2.7; preorbital 3.6; interorbital 3.5; maxil- 
lary 2.5; gape 3.1; mandible .2; D. i, 22; A. ii, 17; scutes 18. 
Body oval, much compressed, highest between the elevated bases of dprsal and anal; snout very 
short, the profile ascending abruptly in a straight line to front of eye, thence in a sharp curve to nape, 
from which point it is nearly straight to origin of dorsal fin; interorbital narrow and very trenchant; 
preorbital very deep; mouth moderate, very low, little oblique in adult, very oblique in young; the 
jaws equal; chin prominent; maxillary rather narrow, reaching vertical of anterior edge of pupil; 
teeth on jaws, vomer, tongue, and palatines in villiform bands; eye large, above axis of body, the adipose 
eyelid well developed before and behind; spinous dorsal obscure, the spines scarcely perceptible in 
