. The fishes of North Carolina . Fishes. SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES 183 Family SPHYRiENIDiE. The Barracudas. The barracudas are elongated pike-like fishes, more or less circular in cross section, with very long, pointed head and large mouth armed with formidable teeth. Lower jaw the longer; upper jaw not protractile, its margin formed by the premaxillaries; maxillaries broad; teeth of unequal size on jaws and palatines, a single large canine at tip of lower jaw; gill-openings wide, gill-membranes not connected and free from isthmus, gill-arches 4, gill-rakers short or rudimentary, pseudobr
. The fishes of North Carolina . Fishes. SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES 183 Family SPHYRiENIDiE. The Barracudas. The barracudas are elongated pike-like fishes, more or less circular in cross section, with very long, pointed head and large mouth armed with formidable teeth. Lower jaw the longer; upper jaw not protractile, its margin formed by the premaxillaries; maxillaries broad; teeth of unequal size on jaws and palatines, a single large canine at tip of lower jaw; gill-openings wide, gill-membranes not connected and free from isthmus, gill-arches 4, gill-rakers short or rudimentary, pseudobranchiae large, branchiostegals 7; no spines on opercular bones; air- bladder large, divided anteriorly; pyloric coeca numerous; lateral line well developed, straight; scales small, cycloid, the head scaly on top and sides; 2 dor- sal fins widely separated, first dorsal with 5 strong spines; second dorsal and anal similar, opposite, and rather short; caudal widely forked; pectorals short, attached low on side; ventrals abdominal, under first dorsal. The barracudas inhabit the warm seas; some of them attain a large size (6 feet or more); in some countries they are food fishes of some importance. They are powerful, active fishes, carnivorous, and voracious. A score or more of species are known, all belonging in one genus. Genus Bloch & Schneider. Barracudas. Only one small species is known from North Carolina, but two others may occur as stragglers; the great barracuda, Sphyrcena barracuda, which ranges from Brazil to Pensacola, Charleston, and Bermuda, and has occasionally wandered to Massachusetts, and the guaguanche, Sphyrcena guachancho, which inhabits the West Indies, but has been noted in southern Massachusetts in at least two instances. (Sphyrcena, hammer-fish.) 157. SPHYR^NA BOREALIS DeKay. Barracuda. Sphyraena borealis DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 37, pi. 60, fig. 196, 1842; New York. Yarrow, 1877, 212- Cape Lookout. Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. J
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