THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 



421 



119. Sailor's Choice (Lagodon rJiomboides Linnaeus). 



Sargus rhomboides DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 93, pi. 71, fig. 228, 1842, copied from 

 CUVIER & VALENCIENNES. 



Lagodon rhomboides HOLBROOK, Ichth. S. C., ed. i, 56, pi. 8, fig. i, 1856; ed. 2, 59, 

 1860; BEAN, igth Rept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 263, 1890; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 IX, 366, 1897; H. M. SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 101, 1898; JORDAN & EVER- 

 MANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1358, 1898, pi. CCXV, fig. 552, 1900. 



The Sailor's Choice feeds upon small invertebrates and Minnows. It is caught 

 with the hook and in cast nets and seines. 



Brownish, white below ; sides of head and body with horizontal stripes of light 



SAILOR'S CHOICE. 



blue and golden ; six or seven very faint darker vertical bands, disappearing with 

 age ; vertical fins yellowish, with bluish stripes ; a dark axillary spot. 



This is called the Salt Water Bream by Schoepff and the Rhomboidal Porgee by 

 DeKay. In Chesapeake Bay it is the Fairmaid. It is also called Pin fish, Squirrel 

 fish, Porgee, Yellow Tail and Shiner. In Great South Bay the name of the fish 

 was unknown to the fishermen, and this is true in Great Egg Harbor Bay, where 

 the young are not uncommon in summer. 



In Gravesend Bay it is not a common fish, but is found occasionally in summer. 



A single individual was obtained at Fire Island October i. The Sailor's Choice 

 occurs as far north as Cape Cod, but it is not present in sufficient numbers to be 

 considered among the important food fishes ; south of Cape Hatteras, where it is 



