536 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



supraoccipital connecting the parietal crests; posterior processes 

 of premaxillaries not reaching frontals. The characteristic 

 smooth area on top of cranium very short and small. Dorsal 

 short, its rays X, 11; anal rays III, 7; caudal usually 

 three lobed or double concave; the canines very weak and the 

 top of the head naked. The ventrals as in PriO' nodes, close 

 together and inserted in advance of axil of pectoral; pectoral 

 with 19 rays, its upper half truncate behind. The three species 

 of Centre pristes are closely related. 



264 Centropristes striatus (Linnaeus) 

 Sea Bass; Blackfish 



Labrus striatus LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 285, 1758, America. 

 Perca atraria LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 485, 1766, Carolina. 

 Perca varia MITCHILL, Rep. Fish. N. Y. 11, 1814; Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. 



N. Y. I, 415, pi. 3, fig. 6, 1815, New York. 

 Centropristes nigricans CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, 37+ 



pi. 44, 1829, New York; DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 24, pi. 2, fig. 6, 



1842; BEAN, 19th Rep. Comni. Fish. N. Y. 266, pi. XVII, fig. 21, 1890. 

 Centropristes atrarius GUNTHEK, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, 86, 1859; GOODE & 



BEAN, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 19, 1879. 



Serranus atrarius JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 533, 1883. 

 Serranus nigrescens JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 917, 1883. 

 Centnopristes striatus JORDAN & EIGENMANN, Bull. U. S. F. C. VIII, 391, 



pi. 64, 1890; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1199, 1896, 



pi. CXC, fig. 500, 1900; BEAN, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 366, 1897; 



H. M. SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 100, 1898; BEAN, 52d Ann. Rep. 



N. Y. State Mus. 105, 1900; SHERWOOD & EDWARDS, Bull. U. S. F. C. 



1901, 28, 1901. 



Body ovate, robust, the back somewhat elevated; axis of 

 body below the middle of the depth. The length of the body i 

 three times its depth and two and three fourths times the length 

 of the head. Head large, thick, little compressed, somewhat 

 pointed; top of head naked; cheeks and opercles scaly; scales GUI 

 cheeks in about 11 rows. Mouth oblique, low, rather large, the 

 prernaxillary below the level of the eye; lower jaw prominent; 

 maxillary broad, its upper edge anteriorly slipping under the 

 edge of the preorbital, which is nearly as wide as the 

 eye. Eye large, wider than interorbital space, less than 

 snout, 4^ in head. Gill rakers long, about 18 below the angle. 

 Canines very small, scarcely differentiated. Teeth all fixed, the- 



