The Bass and their Relatives 



3 2 7 



is commonest along our South Atlantic coast, not reaching 

 the West Indies, and Mycteroperca rubra, which is never red, 

 enters the Mediterranean. Mycteroperca falcata is known in 

 the markets as scamp, and Mycteroperca venadorum is a giant 

 species from the Venados Islands, near Mazatlan. Diploprion 

 bifasciatus is a handsome grouper-like fish with two black 

 cross-bands, found in Japan and India. Variola louti, red, 

 with crimson spots and a forked caudal fin, is one of the most 

 showy fishes of the equatorial Pacific. 



FIG. 262. Yellow-fin Groupor, Mycteroperca renenosa (Linnaeus). Havana. 



The small fishes called Vaca in Cuba belong to the genus 

 Hypoplectrus. Their extraordinary and unexplained variations 

 in color have been noticed on page 235, Vol. I. The common 

 species blue, orange, green, plain, striated, checkered, or striped 

 bears the name of Hypoplectrus unicolor. (Fig. 264). 



The Serranos. In all the species known as jewfish and 

 grouper, as also in the Oxylabracida and most Centrarchidce, 

 the maxillary bone is divided by a lengthwise suture which 

 sets off a distinct supplemental maxillary. This bone is want- 

 ing in the remaining species of Serranidcz, as it is also in those 

 forms already noticed which are familiarly known as bass. 

 The species without the supplemental maxillary are in general 

 smaller in size, the canines are on the sides of the jaws instead 

 of in front, and there are none of the hinged depressible teeth 

 which are conspicuous in the groupers. The species are abundant 

 in the Atlantic, but scarcely any are found in Polynesia, and 

 few in Japan or India. 



