THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 381 



95. Harvest Fish ; Pappy Fish (Rhombus paru Linnaeus). 



Stromateus longipinnis MITCHII.L, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 366, 1815, New York 



Bay. 



Rhombus longipinnis DEK.AY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 136, pi. 75, 239, 1842. 

 Rhombus paru JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 965, 1896, pi. CL, fig. 



404, 1900 ; BEAN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 364, 1897. 



Color greenish above, golden yellow below. Mitchill gives the following descrip- 

 tion : " Silvery, with tints of blue, green and iridescent ; dusky on the head and 

 with inky patches on the belly towards the tail, which in certain lights appear 

 beautifully red and purple ; back bluish, with occasional clouds." 



The Harvest Fish inhabits the West Indies and is found on our Atlantic coast 

 from Cape Cod southward, ranging to Brazil. The young are frequently seen swim- 

 ming beneath the Portuguese Man-of-War. 



DeKay had several specimens of the species, but found it less common than the 

 Short-finned Harvest fish, R. triacantJius. At Charleston the fish is called Rudder 

 fish. 



The species reaches a length of 8 inches. It is a valuable food fish. It is a 

 summer visitor in Gravesend Bay and is sometimes rare, but was formerly abundant 

 there. It is not adapted to a captive life. At Woods Hole, Mass., Dr. Smith 

 reports it as usually rare, but occasionally common. As a rule only 3 or 4 are 

 taken in a season, but one year 300 or 400 were obtained. It occurs mostly in June 

 and July, associated with the Butter fish, R. triacanthus. 



96. Butter fish ; Harvest fish (Rhombus triacanthus Peck). 



Stromateus cryptosus MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 365, pi. I, fig. 3, 1815, 



New York Bay. 

 Rhombus triacanthus DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 137, pi. 26, fig. 80, 1842 ; JORDAN & 



EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 967, 1896, pi. CL, fig. 405, 1900 ; BEAN, Bull. 



Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., TX, 363, 1897 ; BEAN, 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Mus., 104, 



1900. 

 Poronotus triacanthus BEAN, igth Kept. N. Y. Com. Fish., 257, pi. XI, fig. 14, 1890. 



This is known as the Dollar fish, Harvest fish and Lafayette. Mitchill called it 

 the Cryptous Broad Shiner, and DeKay described it under the name Short-finned 

 Harvest fish. About Cape Cod it is the Sheepshead and Skipjack. In Connecticut 

 it is called Pumpkin Seed and at Norfolk, Starfish. 



