874. : FISHEC—HYODONTIDA. 
Diagnosis.—From all other Ohio fishes, this species may be known by 
the serrated belly, in connection with the projecting lower jaw. 
Habits—In regard to distribution, habits and value as food this 
Species is essentially like the Gizzard Shad. It is found only in the 
larger rivers and ponds, never ascending the small streams. Compara- 
tively lately, it has made its way intothe Lakes. It is migratory to some 
extent, but whether individuals ever descend from Ohio to the Gulf of 
Mexico, is not yet known. | It is a handsome fish, but it does not reach a 
very large size, and its flesh being dry and bony, it is not valued as food. 
The name Skipjack alludes to its habit of leaping from the water. It 
feeds upon small fishes, insects and probably crustaceans. 
eA ME Xer1-  ELY ODIO NDE aE = MG O;ONN easier 
Clupeoid fishes with the mouth moderate, oblique, terminal, the jaws about equal, 
the maxillary reaching to about opposite the middle of the eye; maxillary small, slender, 
without supplemental bones, articulated to the end of the premaxillary, and forming 
the lateral margin of the upper jaw; eye exceedingly large, much longer than the thick, 
bluntish snout; dentition greatly developed, nearly every bone in the mouth being 
provided with bands of teeth ; premaxillary and mandible provided with rather stont vill- 
iform teeth; maxillaries with feeble teeth; tongue with two marginal rows of very long 
canines, between which is a band of close sat, shorter, almost paved teeth ; vomer with 
@ similar long series of paved teeth, but without canines; palatines with long series of 
close set teeth, a similar series on the pterygoids and on the sphenoid bone; sides of 
lower jaw shutting within the upper, so that the dentaries fit against the palatines ; 
gill membranes entirely separate, the branchiostegals eight to ten in number; scales 
large, brilliantly silvery, cycloid; lateral line distinct, straight; body oblong, 
compressed, rather deep, belly with ordinary scales, rounded or carinated ; dorsal fin 
well back, beginning opposite the vent; ventrals well developed ; caudal fin strongly 
forked. A single genus, with abont three species, inhabiting the fresh waters of North 
America, remarkable for their brilliantly silvery coloration. 
GENUS 48. HYODON. LeSueur. 
Hiodon, LESUEUR, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., i, 1818, 364.- 
Glossodon, RAFINESQUE, Amer. Monthly Mag., ii, 1818, 354. 
Amphiodon, RAFINESQUE, Journa] de Physique, 1819, 421 (alosoides). 
Clodalus, RAFINESQUE, Ich. Oh., 1820, 43. 
Glossodon, HECKEL, Russegger’s Reisen, i, 1843, 1033. 
Hlationistius, GILL and JORDAN, Ball. U.S. Nat. Mus., x, 1877. (Subgenus.) 
Type, Hiodon tergisus, LeSueur. 
Etymology, huoeides, hyoid bone, i.e., bone shaped like the letter upsilon ; odon, tooth 
(in allusion to the toothed tongue). 
Generic characters not separable from those of the family. - 
