438 SEVENTH RETORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



V 



England the fish is highly esteemed, but farther south it is not in high repute, the 

 hard scales and stiff, sharp spines making it inconvenient to prepare for cooking. 



Dr. Mitchill describes a yellow variety of the Gunner, and DeKay has consid- 

 ered the young, which has a black spot on the exterior portion of the dorsal fin, as a 

 distinct species, named by him the Spotted Bergall. 



The young vary greatly in color. We have seen some dull brown, others that 

 were yellowish, and still others of a bright green. Dusky bands are characteristic, 

 also, of the young stages. Examples were taken at Blue Point Cove, and at Fire 

 Island. The Gunner is a permanent resident, and does not retreat into deep water 

 except in very cold weather. Its spawning takes place in June and July. The 

 species is fished for with the hook, and is taken in nets, which are baited and set 

 among the rocks. The catch of the Irish Gunner boats of Boston has been esti- 

 mated at about 300,000 pounds annually. 



BLACK FISH. 



131. Black Fish ; Tautog (Tautoga onitis Linnaeus). 



Tautoga niger MITCHILL, Kept. Fish. N. Y., 23, 1814, New York. 



Labrus tautoga MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 399, 1815, Long Island. 



Tautoga americana DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 175, pi. 14, fig. 39, 1842. 



Tautoga onitis JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 600, 1883 ; BEAN, 



Kept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 252, pi. V, fig. 7, 1890 ; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 

 368, 1897 ; 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Mus., 107, 1900 ; JORDAN & EVERMANN, 

 Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., II, 1578, 1896, pi. CCXXXVIL fig. 596, 1900. 



Color blackish, greenish, frequently pale bluish or bluish black, with metallic 

 reflections. Often with irregular bands of a deeper hue. Lips, lower jaw and abdo- 

 men lighter, sometimes pale, sprinkled with black points, and sometimes of the 

 same color as the rest of the body. Eye greenish. 



