8 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
THREAD FISH (. ALECTIS'CILIARIS) 
Photograph by El win R. Sanborn. 
anal fins being long and filamentous. In the 
young they are sometimes five times the length 
of the body of the fish, but become shorter 
with age. 
Our specimen is about six inches long, with 
filaments or “threads” projecting at present but 
little beyond the tail, although when captured 
they were nearly twice the length of the fish. 
It is a silvery fish, with five broad slightly 
curving black cross bands much like those in the 
young moonfish. The six upper rays of the dor¬ 
sal and the five lower rays of the anal are the 
ones that are prolonged into 
streamers. The first ray in 
each of these fins is broader 
than the other and lighter 
in color, being almost white. 
The other long rays are 
partly black with white tips. 
The eve is large and bulg¬ 
ing. No other thread-fish 
has lived as long in the 
Aquarium as the one now to 
be seen there. 
in the south, a length of 
three feet and a weight of 
twenty-five pounds, and is 
also a food fish. The Aquar¬ 
ium boat secured a specimen 
at Sandy Hook on July 13, 
which is still living. It is 
several years since we have 
had this species on exhibi¬ 
tion, the last one having 
been taken in Gravesend 
Bay. Our present specimen 
is larger and darker than 
any of those exhibited pre¬ 
viously, the others being 
more or less tinged with 
yellow, while this one is 
almost black. All of the 
triple-tails captured in local 
waters have appeared be¬ 
tween July 13 and the latter 
part of September. The 
name is suggested by the elongated dorsal and 
anal fins, which extend backward and are 
rounded in outline much like the tail. The fish 
now in the Aquarium is about twenty inches in 
length. 
During the summer of 1920, the Aquarium 
boat brought in a hundred or more young pom- 
pano (Trachinotus carolinus ) from five to seven 
inches in length, which were taken in seines at 
various times between September 23 and Octo¬ 
ber 21, along the beach just inside Sandy Hook. 
They have proved to be very hardy in captivity 
The thread-fish reaches a 
length of two feet in trop¬ 
ical waters and is said to be 
a good food fish. 
The triple-tail (Lobotes 
surinamtnsis ) is another 
late summer straggler from 
tropical America. It has 
been found as far north as 
Massachusetts. It reaches, 
TRIPLE-TAIL (LOBOTES SURINAMENSIS) 
Photograph by El win R. Sanborn. 
