43 2 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



127. King Fish ; Whiting ; Sea Mink (Menticirrhus saxatilis Bloch & 



Schneider). 



Sciena nebulosa MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 408, pi. 3, fig. 5, 1815. 

 I'nibriiia allnirnns DfiKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 78, pi. 7, fig, 20, 1842. 

 Menticirrhus nebnlosus JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 577, 1883. 

 Menticirrhus sascatitis BEAN, igth Rept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 259, pi. XII, fig. 16, 1890. 

 Menticirrhns saxatilis JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 1475, 1898. 

 Menticirrhits saxatilis BEAN, 52d Ann. Rept. N. Y. State Mus., 106, 1900. 



Color dusky gray above, sometimes blackish, the back and sides with distinct 

 dark oblique cross-bands running downward and forward, the anterior one at the 

 nape extending downward, meeting the second and thus forming a v-shaped blotch 

 on each side; a dark lateral streak bounding the pale color of the belly, most dis- 



KING FISH. 



tinct posteriorly, and extending on lower lobe of caudal ; inside of gill cavity 

 scarcely dusky ; pectorals dark. 



The King fish, according to DeKay, was so named by the early English colonists 

 because of its excellent flavor. The name Hake is given to it in New Jersey and 

 Delaware ; in the Chesapeake it is sometimes called Black Mullet ; in North Caro- 

 lina, the Sea Mink ; in the South it is the Whiting or Bermuda Whiting; on the 

 Connecticut coast it is known as the Tomcod. 



The King fish occurs northward to Cape Ann and south to the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Large individuals are not common as far north as Cape Cod, but the young may 

 be seen in moderate numbers in the summer months. They occur in abundance 

 throughout Great South Bay, and near the inlet their number is increased. We 

 have collected them at the mouth of Swan Creek, in Blue Point Cove, at the Blue 

 Point Life Saving Station, Oak Island and Fire Island. An individual was obtained 

 October /th in the bay, and others were found during September. Adult King fish 



