368 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Harvestfish Peprilus alepidotus (Linnaeus) 1766 

 Starfish 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 996, as Rhombus 

 paru (Linnaeus) in part. 



Description.- — The body of the harvestfish (not 

 including the caudal peduncle) is almost as deep 

 as it is long, and ovate in outline; its nose is 

 rounded, mouth very small, and head very short. 

 The outlines of its dorsal and anal fins afford the 

 readiest field mark to separate it from its relative, 

 the butterfish; both of these being very high and 

 falcate in front, and continuing nearly straight, 

 thence rearward (compare fig. 194 with fig. 192). 

 The mucous pores, conspicuous in the butterfish, 

 are lacking in the harvestfish. There is also a 

 color difference between the two, the harvestfish 

 being greenish silvery above, silvery sometimes 

 tinged with yellow on its sides and belly, while the 

 fins of some specimens are slightly dusky or yellow- 

 ish. In all other respects (including size) it closely 

 resembles the butterfish. 



General range. — From Florida northward along 

 the middle Atlantic Coast of North America; 

 rarely straying north to Cape Cod, Mass., and to 

 Cape Elizabeth, Maine; represented by a close ally 

 (Peprilus paru Linnaeus 1758) in West Indian- 

 Brazilian waters. 30 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This fish, al- 

 though abundant to the southward, rarely strays 

 as far north as the outer Cape Cod coast. A speci- 

 men taken at Monomoy Point by Dr. W. C. Ken- 

 dall in 1896; 5 or 6 caught in floating traps at 

 Richmond Island, off Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in 

 July 1929 ; 31 one from the Damariscotta River, 

 Maine, in August 1933 ; 32 and one taken at Race 

 Point at the tip of Cape Cod, in October 1949, 33 

 are the only Gulf of Maine records of which we 

 know. 



a° See Meek and Hildebrand (Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. series, vol. 15, 

 Pt. 2, p. 411, 1925) for discussion. 

 «i Reported to us by the late Walter H. Rich of the V. S. Bur. Fish. 

 » MacCoy, Bull. 69, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1933, p. 9. 

 » Reported to us by Edgar Arnold. 



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Figure 194. — Harvestfish [Peprilus alepidotus), New York. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



