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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
side, these often extended as vertical bars, disappearing with age; usually from one to several small, 
very dark brown spots, sometimes black, scattered irregularly on side; ventral, anal, and soft dorsal 
chiefly black; top of head, upper edge of maxillary, and edge of opercle above, black. 
The picuda is common in the West Indies, ranging north to Charleston and the Bermudas, and 
south to Brazil. It is a fierce and voracious fish, of good food qualities. Thirteen examples, from 6 
to 16 inches in length, were collected at San Juan market, San Antonio Bridge, Mayaguez, Ensenada 
del Boqueron, Culebra, Hucares, and Fajardo. 
Umbla minor marina , the Barracuda, Oatesby, Fishes of Carolina, etc., pi. 1, 1731, Bahamas. 
Picuda , Parra, Dif. Piezas, Hist. Nat. Cuba, 90, pi. 35, fig. 2, 1787, Havana. 
Esox barracuda Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, 111,94, 1792, Bahamas; after Catesby. 
Sphyrsena becuna Lac^pOde, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, pi. 9, fig. 3, 1803, Martinique; from a drawing made by Plumier. 
Sphyrsena picuda Poey, Fauna Puerto-Riquefia, 334, 1881; Stahl, 1. c., 76 and 162, 1883; Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 823, 1896. 
Sphyrsena barracuda, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 2841, 1898. 
71. Sphyraena guachancho Cuvier & Valenciennes. Guachanche; Guachanche Pelon. 
Head 3; depth 7; eye 5.4; snout 2.1; maxillary 2.2; mandible 1.6; interorbital 7.2; D. v-i, 9; 
A. i, 8; pectoral 3; ventral 3.6; caudal 1.6; scales 115. 
This species differs from S. barracuda in the much smaller scales, larger eye, longer and more 
slender head, and in the absence of color markings. The single specimen in the collection, 9 inches 
long, taken at Isabel Segunda, is nearly plain in spirits, save for fine dark longitudinal lines following 
the rows of scales above the lateral line. The back is of a faded brown color, the lower jtarts silvery 
white everywhere below lateral line; no regular bars or scattered spots. 
The guachanche is a common West Indian species ranging north to Pensacola, and occasionally 
wandering in the Gulf Stream to Woods Hole. It does not reach as great size as the picuda. 
Sphyrxna guachancho Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 342, 1829, Havana; Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 824, 1896. 
Sphyrsena guntheri Haly, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., XV, 1875, 270, Colon. 
72. Sphyrsena picudilla Poey. Picudilla,. 
Head 3.16; depth 2.25 in head; eye large, about 5 in head, 1.5 times interorbital space. Ii. v-i, 9; 
A. i,9; scales 110. Body rather robust, subterete, covered with scales of moderate size; head rather 
large; maxillary rather small, about 2.6 in head, not reaching orbit. Jaw with fleshy tip, bluntly con- 
ical. Interorbital area flatfish; median groove shallow, divided by a very indistinct median ridge; 
supraocular ridge bony, striate; preocular ridge rather prominent. Premaxillary teeth small, subcon- 
ical; dentition as in Sphyrxna borealis, but slightly weaker; position of spinous dorsal, in comparison 
with the ventrals, variable; distance from tip of snout to origin of spinous dorsal about 2.1 in body; 
pectoral not reaching spinous dorsal; space separating dorsals about 5.5 in body; second dorsal equal 
to and somewhat in advance of anal; cheek and opercles scaly; small embedded scales on upper part 
of head; scales on body moderate, uniform in size. 
Color light-olive, darker above; soft dorsal, anal, and ventral fins yellowish; spinous dorsal and 
pectorals darker; upper parts of preopercle and opercle each with a dark spot; top of head and tip of 
snout blackish. 
S. picudilla is very closely allied to S. borealis. Its eye is, however, much larger (when specimens 
similar in size are compared), and the frontal groove is somewhat different. This species is found in 
the. West Indies, on the coasts of Cuba, ranging southward to Bahia. It was not seen by us in Porto 
Rico, but is included on the authority of Dr. Stahl. Length 18 inches. 
Sphyrxna. picudilla Poey, Memorias, II, 162,1860, Havana; Stahl, 1. c.,76 and 162, 1883: Jordan & Evermann, 1. c.,824, 1896. 
Family XXXI. POLYNEMIDjE. The Thread-fishes. 
Body oblong, compressed, and covered with rather large, loosely inserted, ctenoid scales. Lateral 
line continuous, continued on tail, usually forked, with a branch on each lobe. Head entirely scaly; 
snout more or less conical, projecting over mouth, which is rather large, inferior, with lateral cleft; 
premaxillary protractile, its basal process vertical; maxillary without supplemental bone, extending 
much beyond eye, which is anterior, lateral, rather large, with a well-developed, adipose eyelid. 
Villiform teeth on jaws, palatines, and sometimes on vomer. Pseudobranchige concealed. Branchi- 
