Numerous fossils are referred to the _Carangidæ_ with more or less certainty. _Aipichthys pretiosus_ and other species occur in the Cretaceous. These are deep-bodied fishes resembling _Seriola_, having the falcate dorsal twice as long as the anal and the ventral ridge with thickened scales. _Vomeropsis_ (_longispina elongata_, etc.), also from the Eocene, with rounded caudal, the anterior dorsal rays greatly elongate, and the supraoccipital crest highly developed, probably constitutes with it a distinct family, _Vomeropsidæ_. Several species referable to _Carangus_ are found in the Miocene. _Archæus glarisianus_, resembling _Carangus_, but without scales so far as known, is found in the Oligocene of Glarus; _Seriola prisca_ and other species of _Seriola_ occur in the Eocene; _Carangopsis brevis_, etc., allied to _Caranx_, but with the lateral line unarmed, is recorded from the Eocene of France and Italy.
_Ductor leptosomus_ from the Eocene of Monte Bolca resembles _Naucrates_; _Trachinotus tenuiceps_ is recorded from Monte Bolca, and a species of uncertain relationship, called _Pseudovomer minutus_, with sixteen caudal vertebræ is taken from the Miocene of Licata.
=The Papagallos: Nematistiidæ.=—Very close to the _Carangidæ_, and especially to the genus _Seriola_, is the small family of _Nematistiidæ_, containing the papagallo, _Nematistius pectoralis_ of the west coast of Mexico. This large and beautiful fish has the general appearance of an amber-fish, but the dorsal spines are produced in long filaments. The chief character of the family is found in the excessive division of the rays of the pectoral fins.
=The Bluefishes: Cheilodipteridæ.=—Allied to the _Carangidæ_ is the family of bluefishes (_Cheilodipteridæ_, or _Pomatomidæ_). The single species _Cheilodipterus saltatrix_, or _Pomatomus saltatrix_, known as the bluefish, is a large, swift, extremely voracious fish, common throughout most of the warmer parts of the Atlantic, but very irregularly distributed on the various coasts. Its distribution is doubtless related to its food. It is more abundant on our Eastern coast than anywhere else, and its chief food here is the menhaden. The bluefish differs from the _Carangidæ_ mainly in its larger scales, and in a slight serration of the bones of the head. Its flesh is tender and easily torn. As a food-fish, rich, juicy, and delicate, it has few superiors. Its maximum weight is from twelve to twenty pounds, but most of those taken are much smaller. It is one of the most voracious of all fish. Concerning this, Professor Baird observes: