THE FISHES OF PORTO RICO. 
139 
Color in life: Upper parts bluish-silvery, lower parts silvery; produced dorsal rays black out- 
wardly, anal spines and produced rays reddish-orange, rays blackish at tips; inner edge of caudal lobes 
lemon, outer margin blackish; ventrals reddish. 
T. falcatus is known at once from the other species of the genus by the form of the body and the 
elevation of dorsal and anal rays, which are longer than in any other of our Atlantic species except 
T. glaucus. Its range is from Cape Cod to Porto Rico and Brazil, common southward, apparently only 
the young occurring in the Gulf Stream as far north as Woods Hole. It does not seem to be at all 
common in the Indian River, Florida, though it occurs in some numbers, especially in the southern 
part of that region. It is not well known to the fishermen, only a few of whom had any name for it. 
These called it “permit,” probably confusing it with the much larger species, T. goodei. It is regarded 
as a fair food-fish. The majority of the specimens seen in the Indian River weighed less than a pound 
each, and the largest about 3 pounds. In Porto Rico it is held in considerable esteem, ranking perhaps 
with most other species of the family. It appears to be abundant, as specimens were obtained by us 
at San Juan market, and at San Antonio Bridge, Palo Seco, Mayaguez, Puerto Real, Boqueron, Ponce, 
Arroyo, Hucares, and Isabel Segunda. It appeared to be common in most of the markets. Our 
Porto Rican specimens range from 1.4 to 7 inches in length. 
Ldbrus falcatus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 284, 1758, America. 
Chsdodon rhomboides Bloch, Ichthyologia, pi. 209, 1787, Martinique; on a drawing by Plunder. 
Trachinotus fuscus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VIII, 410, 1831, Brazil. 
Trachinotus spinosus De Kay, N. Y. Fauna: Fishes, 117, pi. 19, fig. 53, 1842, New York Harbor. 
Trachynotus ovatus, Poey, Fauna Puerto-Riquena, 333, 1881; Stahl, 1. c., 77 and 164, 1883. 
Trachinotus falcatus, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 941, 1896. 
Fig. 38. — Trach inotus falcatus. 
98. Trachinotus carolinus (Linnaeus). Common Pompano. 
( Plate 10.) 
Head 3.5; depth 2.33; eye 4.1; snout 3.7; maxillary 2.8; mandible 2.4; interorbital 2.7; D. vi-i, 
24; A. ii— i, 22; pectoral 1.4; ventral 2.2; caudal 9; scales very numerous. Body oblong, compressed, 
moderately elevated; caudal peduncle short, slender, and much compressed; mouth small, horizontal, 
jaws equal, maxillary reaching the middle of eye, the teeth in jaws in villiform bands in the young, 
finally deciduous; a procumbent spine before dorsal; spinous dorsal short and low, spines connected 
by membrane in young, becoming embedded in the flesh with age, membrane disappearing; anterior 
rays of soft dorsal and anal elevated and falcate, 1.4 in head in young of 5 inches. 
Color, bluish above, silvery below with golden tinge; pectoral and anal light-orange, shaded with 
bluish; anterior lobe of soft dorsal dusky in young. 
Found on the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of United States, ranging north on sandy shores as 
far as Cape Cod; said to be rare or accidental in West Indies and Brazil, though we found the young, 
from 2.5 to 5 inches long, in considerable numbers at Palo Seco, Mayaguez, Ponce, and Isabel Segunda. 
The pompano is perhaps the most delicious of all food-fishes. The richness, firmness, and delicacy 
