344 



The Bass and their Relatives 



Very similar to the porgy is the famous red tai or akadai 

 of Japan (Pagrus major], a fish so highly esteemed as to be, 

 with the rising sun and the chrysanthemum, a sort of national 

 emblem. In all prints and images the fish-god Ebisu (Fig. 280), 

 beloved of the Japanese people, appears with a red tai under his 

 arm. This species, everywhere abundant, is crimson in color, and 

 the flesh is always tender and excellent. A similar species is 



FIG. 281. Scup, Stenotomus chrysops (Linnaeus). Wood's Hole, Mass. 



the well-known and abundant "schnapper " of Australia, Pagrus 

 unicolor. Another but smaller tai or porgy, crimson, sprinkled 

 with blue spots, Pagrus cardinalis, occurs in Japan in great 

 abundance, as also two species similar in character but without 

 red, known as Kurodai or black tai. These are Sparus latus 

 and Sparus berda. The gilt-head of the Mediterranean, Sparus 

 aurata, is very similar to these Japanese species. Sparus sarba 

 in Australia is the tarwhine, and Sparus australis the black 

 bream. The numerous species of Pagellus abound in the Medi- 

 terranean. These are smaller in size than the species of Pagrus, 

 red in color and with feebler teeth. Monotaxis grandoculis, 

 known as the "mu," is a widely diffused and valuable food-fish 

 of the Pacific islands, greenish in color, with pale cross-bands. 

 Very closely related is also the American scup or fair maid 

 (Stenotomus chrysops), one of our commonest pan fishes. In 



