Genus: Tylosurus, Houndfish Needlefish, Needlefishes, Houndfishes

TYLOSURUS

NEEDLEFISHES, HOUNDFISHES

Body elongate, slender, cylindrical; extremely elongate jaws form a moderately long beak, with numerous needle-like teeth; no gill rakers; fins without spines; dorsal and anal fins with triangular front lobes; dorsal fin with 18-24 rays; tail base with large keel on each side; tail strongly forked, lower lobe larger; pelvic fins large, forked; juveniles with large dark rear lobe on dorsal fin.

A circumtropical genus with six species. Two Atlantic and Indo-Pacific subspecies of circumtropical species occur in the Greater Caribbean.