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Milk-fishes
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BODY oblong, compressed, covered with small, firm, adherent scales; lateral line distinct; abdomen broad and flattish; snout depressed; mouth small, anterior, the lower jaw with a small symphyseal tubercle; no teeth; eye with an adipose eyelid; gill membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; branchiosteglas 4; pseudobranchiae well developed; an accessory branchial organ in a cavity behind the gill cavity; dorsal fin opposite the ventrals; anal shorter than the dorsal; mucous membrane of the oesophagus raised into a spiral fold; intestine with many convolutions; colour silvery.
This genus contains 3 species, only one of which is found in our waters. This is Chanos chanos, the milk-fish, or awa, a fish of very wide distribution. It is found on most sandy shores of the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is very abundant in the Gulf of California and among the Hawaiian Islands, where it is an important food-fish. In the Hawaiian Islands it is found with the ama-ama, or mullet, in the artificial fish-ponds of the old kings. The awa reaches a length of 2 to 5 feet.