GILT-HEAD. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Ill 



SPAR1DJE* 



THE GILT-HEAD. 



Chrysophrys aurata, Cuv.et VALENC. Hist. Nat.des Poiss. t. vi. p. 85, pi. 145. 

 Aurata Kondeletii, WILLUGHBY, p. 307, tab. V. 5. 

 Sparus aurata, LINN/EUS. 



,, ,, BLOCK, pt. viii. pi. 266. 



,, Gilt-head, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 327, but not 



plate 66. 



ii ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 211, sp. 136? 



,, ,, ,, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 353. 



Generic Characters. Body deep, compressed ; dorsal fin single, the rays 

 partly spinous, the posterior rays flexible ; teeth of two kinds, six incisors in 

 each jaw, conical, with rounded and oval molar teeth, in four rows above and 

 three rows below ; cheeks and operculum covered with scales ; branchiostegous 

 rays 6. 



THE GILT-HEAD is one of the fishes most abundant in 

 the Mediterranean : from Gibraltar it is found as far south 

 as the Cape of Good Hope, and northward along the coast of 

 Spain and France ; thence to the bold shore of parts of our 

 southern coast, Colonel Montagu having examined two spe- 

 cimens taken at Torcross in 1802; since that time, a fine 



* The family of Marine Bream. 



