Genus: Elops, Ladyfish, Ladyfishes, Machetes, Tenpounders

ELOPS

LADYFISHES, LADYFISH, MACHETES, TENPOUNDERS

Fish with slender, fusiform, silvery bodies; the long mouth opens at the front and ends past the eye; teeth small, granular, on jaws, roof of mouth, tongue and base of gill arches; an elongate bony plate under the chin between the lower jaws; a single dorsal fin on the middle of the back; pelvic fins low on sides, directly under dorsal; pectorals are located under the body; tail fin strongly forked; lateral line is straight and complete; all fins without spines; scales small, ~ 100 on lateral line.

This circumtropical genus contains 7 species; 2 species in the Greater Caribbean, one from the NW Atlantic and the other W Atlantic.