282 Cavallas and Pampanos 



entire school ever unite in an attack upon a particular object of 

 prey, as is said to be the case with the ferocious fishes of the 

 South American rivers ; should they do so, no animal, however 

 large, could withstand their onslaught. 



"They appear to eat anything that swims of suitable size 

 fish of all kinds, but perhaps more especially the menhaden, 

 which they seem to follow along the coast, and which they 

 atack with such ferocity as to drive them on the shore, where 



FIG. 219. Sergeant-fish, Rachycentron canadum (Linnaeus). Virginia. 



they are sometimes piled up in windrows to the depth of a 

 foot or more." 



The Sergeant-fishes: Rachycentridae. The Rachycentrida \ or 

 sergeant-fishes, are large, strong, swift, voracious shore fishes, 

 with large mouths and small teeth, ranging northward from the 

 warm seas. The dorsal spines are short and stout, separate 

 from the fin, and the body is almost cylindrical, somewhat like 

 that of the pike. 



Rachycentron canadum, called cobia, crab-eater, snooks, or 

 sergeant-fish, reaches a length of about five feet. The last 

 name is supposed to allude to the black stripe along its side, 

 like the stripe on a sergeant's trousers. It is rather common 

 in summer along our Atlantic coast as far as Cape Cod, espe- 

 cially in Chesapeake Bay. Rachycentron pondicerrianum, equally 

 voracious, extends its summer depredations as far as Japan. 

 The more familiar name for these fishes, Elacate, is of later date 

 than Rachycentron. 



Mr. Prime thus speaks of the crab-eater as a game-fish: 



"In shape he may be roughly likened to the great northern 

 pike, with a similar head, flattened on the forehead. He is 

 dark green on the back, growing lighter on the sides, but the 



