462 
KAMAKICHI KISHINOUYE : 
The dendritic course of the hepatic vein may distinctly be seen on the 
exterior side of the liver. The right lobe of the liver is exceedingly long, the 
other lobes are short and rather indistinct. The mass of the pyloric coeca is 
much shorter than the stomach. Kidneys are elongated. Two ureters are sepa¬ 
rated and open at the dorsal, anterior end of the bladder. Sexual gland when 
ripened develops backward along both sides of the thick row of interspinous 
bones of the anal fin. This is due to the narrowness of the abdominal cavity. 
The back is dark greenish, it becomes dark bluish after death. Several 
oblique bands in the scaleless part above the lateral line. Belly silvery, with 
irridescent reflections. Oval dark spot below each eye. 
Very widely distributed in the temperate and tropical waters. In warm 
seasons the fish approaches the shore, often in large schools, and is caught 
with seines, pound-nets, drift nets, rods and lines, etc. This fish is also found 
in the Japan Sea. It swims in the deeper strata of water in cold months, and 
disappears in winter from our coasts. 
Verj’ small in size, generally ca 30 cm in length. 
The fish feeds on small plankton and small fishes, such as Atherina, Stole- 
phorus, Sprattelloides, immature forms of EngraiiLis, etc. It is inferior in taste, 
as it is coarse and moreover very perishable. 
In our waters there are two different species of fish belonging to this 
genus. They resemble each other so closely that they have long been con¬ 
founded by naturalists, and were considered to be the same species as the 
Atlantic congener. 
Key to the Japanese species of the genus Auxis. 
J3ocly more or less compressed, only a few scales are found on both sides of 
the lateral line in the posterior part of the body ; inferior foramen 
present in the last two vertebrae with the epihaemal spine (26th and 27th). A. hira. 
Body nearly rounded in cross-section, several rows of scales on both sides of 
the lateral line, no inferior foramen in the vertebrae with the epihaemal spine... A. mam. 
Auxis hira Kishinouye. 
Hiramedika, hiragatsuwo, hirasohda, obosogatsuwo, shibuwa, 
soma, suma, etc. 
Figs. 55, 59. 
Auxis hira, Kishinouye, Sui. Gak. Ho, I, 23, PI. 1, Fig. 16. 1915. 
B. 10-11, 12, 8. A. 13, 7. Gill-rakers 9 + 30. 
