352 Surmullets, Croakers, etc. 



with their feelers, these fishes creep over the floor of shallow 

 waters, seeking their food. 



The numerous species are all very much alike in form, and 

 the current genera are separated by details of the arrangement 

 of the teeth. But few are found outside the tropics. 



The surmullet or red mullet of Europe, Mullus barbatus, 

 is the most famous species, placed by the Romans above all 

 other fishes unless it be the scarus, Sparisoma cretense. From 

 the satirical poets we learn that "enormous prices were paid 

 for a fine fish, and it was the fashion to bring the fish into the 

 dining-room and exhibit it alive before the assembled guests, 

 so that they might gloat over the brilliant and changing colors 

 during the death-agonies." It is red in life, and when the 

 scales are removed, the color is much brighter. 



It is an excellent fish, tender and rich, but nowhere so extrav- 

 agantly valued to-day as was formerly the case in Rome. 



FIG. 290. Golden Surmullet, Mullus auratus Jordan & Gilbert. 

 Wood's Hole, Mass. 



Mullus surmuletus is a second European species, scarcely differ- 

 ent from Mullus barbatus. 



Equally excellent as food and larger in size are two Polyne- 

 sian species known as kumu and munu (Pseudupeneus porphyreus 

 and Pseudupeneus bifasciatus) . Mullus auratus is a small sur- 

 mullet occasionally taken off our Atlantic coast, but in deeper 

 water than that frequented by the European species. Pseu- 

 dupeneus maculatus is the red goatfish or salmonete, common 

 from Florida to Brazil, as is also the yellow goatfish, Pseudu- 



