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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Genus 54. SERIOLA Cuvier. The Amber-fishes. 
Body oblong, moderately compressed, not elevated. Occiput and breast not trenchant. Head 
usually more or less conical, not very blunt. Mouth comparatively large, with broad bands of 
villiform teeth on both jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatines; abroad, strong, supplemental maxillary 
bone; premaxillaries protractile. Scales small; lateral line scarcely arched, forming a keel on caudal 
peduncle, not armed with bony plates; sides of head with small scales. First dorsal with about 7 low 
spines, connected by membrane; second dorsal very long, elevated in front; anal similar to soft dorsal 
but not nearly so long, shorter than abdomen, preceded by 2 very small free spines, which disappear 
in old fishes; no iinlets; ventral fins very long; pectoral short and broad. Gillrakers moderate. 
Species of moderate or large size, often gracefully colored; most of them valued as food-fishes. 
Seriola: 
a. Head longer than deep, profile not very steep. Dorsal and anal fins not falcate, height of their lobes less than half 
depth of body. Dorsal rays 30 to 38; species of large size, elongate, with 5 or 6 broad, dark crossbars when 
young, these becoming obsolete with age; a yellow lateral band; nuchal bar pale. 
b. Dorsal rays 36 to 38; dark bands on young very broad zonata 
bb. Dorsal rays 30 to 3*1. Mouth rather large, maxillary reaching middle of pupil; dark bands on young broad. 
c. Body slender, depth 3.5 to 3.75 in length lalandi 
cc. Body deeper, depth 3 in length dumerili 
Zonichthys: 
aa. Head deeper than long, anterior profile steep; no yellow longitudinal band; size small. 
d. Dorsal not falcate, its soft rays 32; young with about 12 narrow dark crossbars fasciata 
dd. Dorsal and anal falcate, their anterior lobes more than half depth of body; head deeper than long; body deep; 
dorsal rays 27 to 30. 
e. Nuchal band dark-brown or black rivoliana 
cc. Nuchal band pale-yellowish falcata, 85 
85. Seriola falcata Cuvier & Valenciennes. Madregal; Rock Salmon. 
Head 3.8 (4.6 in total) ; depth 3.4 (4 in total). D. vii-i, 29; A. ii-i, 21. Caeca 30. Body rather 
deep and compressed. Head somewhat longer than deep, not conical. Snout 2.75 in head; maxillary 
reaching front of pupil, 3.5 in head, its tip broad; eye large, 5.25 in head, 1.75 in snout. Occiput 
somewhat carinated. Interorbital space wide, convex. Caudal keel little developed. Dorsal high, 
somewhat falcate, its anterior lobe 1.4 in head, 2.33 in base of fin; pectoral 2 in head; ventrals 1.6; 
anal lobe 1.75; anal spines small. 
Life coloration as follows’. Grayish above, paler but hardly silvery below; fins blackish, pectoral 
pale; caudal not at all yellow; eye white; lining of opercle pale; a very obscure olivaceous band from 
eye to front of dorsal, scarcely visible in fresh specimens; preorbital and preopercle shaded with olive. 
Found in the West Indies, north to Florida and the Carolinas. Not seen by us in Porto Rico, 
but included on the authority of Valenciennes and Poey. 
Seriola falcata Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IX, 210, pi. 515, 1833, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Mexico; Poey, 
Fauna Puerto-Riquefia, 332, 1881; Jordan & Evermann, l.c., 905, 1896. 
Seriola dubia Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., VII, 1839, 81, Madeira. 
Seriola declivis Poey, Memorias, II, 230, 1860, Havana. 
Seriola ligulata Poey, Memorias, II, 231, 1860, Cuba. 
Genus 55. DECAPTERTJS Bleeker. The Mackerel Scads. 
Body elongate, little compressed, almost perfectly fusiform. Head short, pointed. Mouth rather 
small; jaws about equal, the dentition feeble; maxillary rather broad, with a supplementary bone. 
Premaxillaries protractile. Scales moderate, enlarged for the whole length of lateral line, but spinous 
and bony posteriorly only; second dorsal and anal each with a single detached finlet; free anal spines 
very strong; first dorsal well developed, persistent; pectoral comparatively short. Abdomen rather 
shorter than anal fin. Gillrakers long and slender. 
Species numerous; only one known to occur in Porto Rico. 
a. Shields of lateral line numerous, 40 to 50 in number punctatus, 86 
aa. Shields of lateral line few, 20 to 30 in number. 
b. Teeth minute on both jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue; shields 22 to 28; depth 5 in length sanctse-helenx 
bb. Teeth obsolete; caudal keel of 25 shields; depth 5.75 in length macarellus 
