348 



The Bass and their Relatives 



silvery scales. In some species the dorsal spines and the third 

 anal spine are very strong, and in some the second interhaemal 

 is quill-shaped, including the end of the air-bladder, as in Calamus. 

 Most of the species, including all the peculiar ones, are American. 

 The smallest, Eucinostomus, have the quill-shaped interhaemal 



FIG. 286. Mojarra, Xystaema cinereum (Walbaum). Key West. 



and the dorsal and anal spines are very weak. The commonest 

 species is the silver jenny, or mojarra de Ley, Eucinostomus 

 gula, which ranges from Cape Cod to Rio Janeiro, in the surf 

 along sandy shores. Equally common is Eucinostomus cali- 

 forniensis of the Pacific Coast of Mexico, while Eucinostomus 

 harengulus of the West Indies is also very abundant. Ul&ma 

 lefroyi has but two anal spines and the interhaemal very small. 

 It is common through the West Indies. Xyst&ma, with the 

 interhaemal spear-shaped and normally formed, is found in 

 Asia and Polynesia more abundantly than in America, although 

 one species, Xystama cinereum, the broad shad, or Mojarra 

 blanca, is common on both shores of tropical America. 

 Xyst&ma gigas is found in Polynesia, X. oyena in Japan, and 

 X. filamentosum in Formosa and India. Xyst&ma massalongoi 

 is also fossil in the Miocene of Austria. The species of Gerres 

 have very strong dorsal and anal spines and the back much 

 elevated. Gerres plumieri, the striped mojarra, Gerres bra- 

 siliensis, the patao, Gerres olisthostomus, the Irish pampano, 

 and Gerres rhombeus are some of the numerous species found 



