578 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



South bay, September 1. In 1901, the species was not observed 

 at all during a season extending from the middle of July to the 

 middle of October. 



The breeding season must continue into early summer as 

 many young fish, from 1 inch to 2 inches long, were obtained in 

 Great Egg Harbor bay, N. J. early in August. 



The young of the silver perch are found every summer in 

 Gravesend bay, and adults are to be seen occasionally. On Sep- 

 tember 8, 1896, Mr De Nyse took an example 1| inches long with 

 a shrimp net in eelgrass back of the flats at extreme low tide. 

 Pools containing 2 feet of water are common here, and many 

 species of fish become imprisoned in them. In August Mr W. L, 

 De Nyse has captured a half dozen adult Hippocampus 

 in such localities. On October 5, 1896, and again in the fall of 

 1897, the silver perch was obtained in the bay. 



The species seldom exceeds 10 inches in length, but is regarded 

 as an excellent panfish, and is secured in enormous numbers. 



Genus SCIAENOPS Gill 



This genus is close to Ophioscion, from which it differs 

 in the loss of its preopercular armature with age, the serrate 

 edge of the bone becoming entire. The caudal fin is truncate 

 or concave, the soft dorsal scaleless; the slits and pores of the 

 upper jaw are well developed and the single species reaches a 

 very large size. The group is not well separated from Ophios- 

 cion on the one hand, or from Sciaena on the other, but 

 its retention seems to be convenient. 



282 Sciaenops ocellatus (Linnaeus) 

 Red Drum; Channel Bass 



Perca ocellata LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. XII, 483, 1766, South Carolina. 

 Sciaena imberbis MITCHILL, Trans. Lit.. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 411, 1815, 



New York. 

 Coroina ocellata CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss. V, 134, pi. 108, 



1830; DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 75, pi. 21, fig. 61, 1842, New York; 



HOLBROOK, Ichth. S. C. ed. 1, 149, pi. 21, fig. 2, 1856. 

 Johnius ocellatus GIRARD, U. S. Mex. Bd. Surv. 14, pi. 8, figs. 1-4, 1859. 

 Sciaena ocellata GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 289, 1860, America; 



JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 571, 1883. 



