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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 191. — Johnsons sea bream (Taractes princeps), Browns Bank. After Bigelow and Schroeder. 



In the adult the body is massive, flattened side- 

 wise, about half as deep as it is long to the base 

 of the tail fin. The dorsal and anal fins are long, 

 scythe-shaped in front, each followed by a row of 

 low rays that are detached along their outer parts, 

 but are joined by scaly skin along their bases, 

 giving the fins the outline shown in figure 191. 

 The tail fin is deeply lunate; the long pectorals 

 originate a little in advance of the dorsal, and the 

 very small ventral fins a little in front of the 

 pectorals. The eyes are large, oval, with vertical di- 

 ameter longer than the horizontal diameter. There 

 is no lateral line. A striking character is that the 

 scales winch clothe the vertical fins and the body 

 (about 43 scales along the median longitudinal 

 row) vary greatly in size, being largest along the 

 sides, smallest on the back, breast, and fins. 

 They vary also in shape, their exposed margins 

 being either concave, convex, notched, or straight. 

 This species is separated from Brama raii 

 Bloch 1781, 8 the only one of its relatives yet 

 recorded from our North Atlantic coast, by its 

 larger scales {Brama raii has 80 or more in the 

 median longitudinal row) and by the fact that its 

 ventral fins originate slightly, but distinctly, in 

 front of the pectorals. 



Color. — The body and head of a specimen, three 

 days after death, were blackish, tinged with 

 salmon on the gill covers and along the sides; the 

 dorsal and anal fins were dusky, with the free 

 ends of the short rays pale; the caudal was black 

 but with its concave margin white; the pectorals 

 were gray. 



Size. — Maximum length about 3 feet. 



General range. — Known only from Madeira in 

 the eastern Atlantic, and from Browns Bank in 

 the western. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This fish is 

 mentioned here on the basis of one specimen, 

 about 33 inches long, caught on a long line on 

 Browns Bank, off Cape Sable, in January 1928, 

 by the schooner Wanderer. A detailed account 

 and comparison with allied species is given by 

 Bigelow and Schroeder. 9 



It seems certain that Taractes is very rare in 

 American waters, at least in the depths in which 

 commercial fishermen operate, for so conspicuous 

 a fish would almost certainly be reported, if 

 caught. Nothing is known of its habits except 

 that it seems to be common around Madeira in 

 deep water. 



8 Brama rail has been taken at Woods Hole and on the Grand Banks. 



• Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 69, 1929, pp. 39-50, 1 pi. 



