424 SEVENTH RETORT UK THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



121. Weak Fish ; Squeteague (Cynoscion rcgalis Bloch & Schneider.) 



Roccus comes MITCHILI,, Kept. Fish. N. Y., 26, 1814, New York. 



I.aknis stjnctcague MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 396, pi. 2, fig. 6, 1815, 

 New York. 



Otolithus regalis DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 71, pi. 8, fig. 24, 1842. 



Cynoscion regale BEAN, Bull. U. S. F. C., VII, 140, pi. II, fig. 6, 1888; igth Kept. Comm. 

 Fish. N. Y., 257, pi. XIII, fig. 15, 1890. 



Cvnoscion regalis BKAN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 367, 1897; JORDAN & EVER- 

 MANX, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1407. 1898, pi. CCXX, fig. 562, 1900; H. M. 

 SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 101, 1898 ; BEAN, 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Mus., 

 106, 1900 ; SHERWOOD & EDWARDS, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1901, 29, 1901. 



Silvery, darker above and marked with many small, irregular dark blotches, some 

 of which form undulating lines running downward and forward ; back and head with 



X 



WEAK FISH. 



bright reflections; dorsal and caudal fins dusky; ventrals, anal, and lower edge of 

 caudal yellowish, sometimes speckled. The young show traces of a few dusky 

 bands on the sides, one under the spinous dorsal being most plainly marked, and 

 extending to beiow the median line. 



The Weak fish, so called in Dr. Mitchill's Fisiics of New York, appears also in his 

 report as the Squeteague and Checouts, the former being a Narragansett Indian 

 name and the latter derived from the Mohegans. The Narragansett name is some- 

 times spelled Scuteeg. Chickwick is the Connecticut name for the species ; on Cape 

 Cod, because of the sound produced by the fish, it is called the Drummer; large 

 \\Yak fish in Buzzards Bay are termed Yellow fins. In Great Egg Harbor Bay the 

 name Blue fish is applied to it, notwithstanding the presence of the real Blue fish 

 d\>tnatoinns). On our southern coast we hear the name Trout, with its variations, 

 Grey Trout, Sea Trout, Shad Trout, Sun Trout and Salt-water Trout. The latter 

 name is used to distinguish it from the Fresh-water Trout of the Southern States, 



