315 
Family EXOCOETIDAE 
Body oblong or moderately long. Head with vertical 6ide«, 
approximating below. Mouth moderately large, terminal. Jaws not 
extended in a beak, except in some of very yovmg. Premaxillaries not 
protractile, with straight transverse front edge. Upper jaw edge chiefly 
formed by premaxillaries and short maxillaries with lateral edge. Maxillary 
free from or merely adherent to |>remaxillary, its edge slipping below 
front of preorbital. Teeth various, villiform, small or weak. Nostrils 
large, double, near eye. Gill membrances not tmited, free from isthmus. 
Gill rakers variable. Gills 4, slit behind fourth. Vertebrae 44 to 
52. Pseudobranohiae hidden, glandular. Air bladder very large, not 
cellular, extends far back among haemopophyses from caudal vertebrae. 
Shoulder girdle and pectoral muscle very strong. Scales deciduous, 
cycloid, rather large, extend over head. Lateral line low, runs along 
lower side of body. Dorsal posterior, opposite and similar to anal. No 
finlets. Caudal forked, lower lobe longer. Pectoral large, inserted high, 
used as organs of flight. Ventral abdominal, of several i<sft rays, 
inserted usually postmedian, occasionally median or premedian. Vent 
close before anal. 
» I 
Carnivorous and herbivorous fishes living in all warm seas, 
mostly pedagic,. swimming near the surface and skipping or sailing 
through the air sometimes for considerable distances. They are readily 
known by their long pectoral fins. In some forms they are not so greatly 
prolonged (Oxyporhamphus) while in others the ventrals are also prolonged 
to assist in flight (Cypselurus). 
