The family of Zaproridæ contains also a single large species, Zaprora silenus, without ventrals, but scaly and firm in substance. One specimen 2½ feet long was taken at Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and a smaller one at Victoria.
The Pomfrets: Bramidæ.—The Bramidæ are broad-bodied fishes of the open seas, covered with firm adherent scales. The flesh is firm and the skeleton heavy, the hypercoracoid especially much dilated. Of the various species the pomfret, or black bream (Brama raii), is the best known and most widely diffused. It reaches a length of two to four feet and is sooty black in color. It is not rare in Europe and has been occasionally taken at Grand Bank off Newfoundland, at the Bermudas, off the coast of Washington, on Santa Catalina Island, and in Japan. It is an excellent food-fish, but is seldom seen unless driven ashore by storms.
Steinegeria rubescens of the Gulf of Mexico is a little-known deep-sea fish allied to Brama, but placed by Jordan and Evermann in a distinct family, Steinegeriidæ.
Closely related to the Bramidæ is the small family of Pteraclidæ, silvery fishes with large firm scales, living near the surface in the ocean currents. In these fishes the ventral fins are placed well forward, fairly to be called jugular, and the rays of the dorsal and anal, all inarticulate or spine-like, are excessively prolonged. The species, none of them well known, are referred to four genera—Pteraclis, Bentenia, Centropholis, and Velifer. They are occasionally taken in ocean currents, chiefly about Japan and Madeira.
Fossil forms more or less remotely allied to the Bramidæ are recorded from the Eocene and Miocene. Among these are Acanthonemus, and perhaps Pseudovomer.
The Dolphins: Coryphænidæ.—The dolphins, or dorados (Coryphænidæ), are large, swift sea-fishes, with elongate, compressed bodies, elevated heads, sharp like the cut-water of a boat, and with the caudal fin very strong. The long dorsal fin, elevated like a crest on the head, is without spines. The high forehead characteristic of the dolphin is developed only in the adult male. The flesh of the dolphin is valued as food. Its colors, golden-blue with deep-blue spots, fade rapidly at death, though the extent of this change has been much exaggerated. Similar changes of color occur at death in most bright-colored fishes, especially in those with thin scales. The common dolphin, or dorado (Coryphæna hippurus), is found in all warm seas swimming near the surface, as usual in predatory fishes, and reaches a length of about six feet. The small dolphin, Coryphæna equisetis, rarely exceeds 2½ feet, and is much more rare than the preceding, from which the smaller number of dorsal rays (53 instead of 60) best distinguishes it. Young dolphins of both species are elongate in form, the crest of the head not elevated, the physiognomy thus appearing very different from that of the adult. Goniognathus coryphænoides is an extinct dolphin of the Eocene.
Fig. 222.—Dolphin or Dorado, Coryphæna hippurus Linnæus. New York.
The name dolphin, belonging properly to a group of small whales or porpoises, the genus Delphinus, has been unfortunately used in connection with this very different animal, which bears no resemblance to the mammal of the same name.
Other mackerel-like families not closely related to these occur in the warm seas. The Leiognathidæ are small, silvery fishes of the East Indies. Leiognathus argentatus (Equula) is very common in the bays of Japan, a small silvery fish of moderate value as food. Gazza minuta, similar, with strong teeth, abounds farther south. Leiognathus fasciatum is common in Polynesia. A fossil species called Parequula albyi occurs in the Miocene of Licata.