410 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



torals (about half as long as the head) stand 

 almost above the ventrals. 



Color.- — Grayish or blackish brown, the caudal 

 fin edged with white. Young fish are mottled 

 above with gray and cream on head and body. 



Size. — Reaches a length of 4% to 5 feet at least, 

 and a weight of more than 100 pounds. 



Habits.- — Small wreck fish are most likely to be 

 found under floating logs or wreckage, as the com- 

 mon name implies. When larger, they take to 

 bottom; this, at least, is the case around Madeira 

 and in the Mediterranean. 



General range.- — This is a fish of wide distribu- 

 tion. In the eastern Atlantic it is known as far 

 north as Norway, as far south as the Canaries; 

 also in the Mediterranean. It has been reported 



only occasionally in the western Atlantic, but its 

 latitudinal range there extends from the Grand 

 Banks of Newfoundland to the La Plata River. 

 It is also known from the Cape of Good Hope and 

 Indian Ocean. 39 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine.- — The only re- 

 port that has reached us of a wreck fish in any 

 part of the Gulf of Maine is of one 24 K inches long, 

 weighing 9 pounds 7 ounces (dressed), taken on 

 the northern edge of Georges Bank, August 13, 

 1951, by the trawler Winthrop.* Another, 6 in- 

 ches long, was caught on the surface off No Man's 

 Land Island, near Martha's Vineyard, August 21, 

 1925; and two have been brought in from the 

 Grand Banks, one of them many years ago, 41 the 

 second in 1929. 42 



THE CATALUFAS OR BIG EYES. FAMILY PRIACANTHIDAE 



The big eyes are very closely related to the sea 

 basses (Serranidae), from which they differ chiefly 

 by the fact that the entire head, including the 

 snout and upper jaw, is clothed with rough scales. 



Short big-eye Psevdopriacanthus altus 

 (Gill) 1862 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1239. 



Description. — The most striking characters of 

 this fish are its very large eyes and its brilliant red 

 color. Apart from these, it is distinguishable from 

 the seabass tribe by the fact that its whole head, 

 as well as its body, is clothed with rough scales 

 and that the anal fin is longer than the soft-rayed 

 portion of its dorsal fin. Its sidewise flattened 

 body, unusually stout dorsal fin spines, very large 

 ventral fins, and small pectorals, are ready field 

 marks to separate it from the rosefish, the only 

 common Gulf of Maine species of similar appear- 

 ance that rivals it in color. The big-eye is ovate 

 in outline, very thin through, with rounded dorsal 

 profile, large head, notably oblique mouth, and 

 enormous eyes. The spiny (10 spines) and soft 

 (11 rays) portions of its dorsal fin are continuous, 

 and extend back from the nape nearly to the base 

 of the caudal fin. The anal (3 stout spines and 

 9 or 10 rays) originates under the eighth or ninth 

 dorsal spine and its soft portion is nearly of the 

 same form as the soft portion of the dorsal, except 

 that its outer angle is somewhat more rounded. 

 The caudal is square-cornered and slightly convex. 

 The veutrals, which originate a little in front of the 



pectorals, are much larger than the latter, round 

 tipped, and each commeaces with a stiff spine. 



Color. — Bright red in life, below and above; 

 dorsal fin red, the spinous part edged with yellow, 

 a few blackish dots on the soft rays; caudal fin 

 pale, with blackish reticulations; anal red, edged 

 with black; ventrals red at base, dusky on outer 

 part; pectorals plain red. The iris is gold. 



Size. — The largest specimen on record was 11 

 inches long. 



General range. — Caribbean Sea, West Indies, 

 and Gulf of Mexico in rather deep water, straying 

 northward to the Woods Hole region and very 

 rarely rounding Cape Cod. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — A big-eye 

 found alive on Marblehead Beach, September 3, 

 1859; a second, found at Scituate, Mass., in 1932 

 or 1933 j 43 and a third, about 1% inches (38 mm.) 

 long, picked up in a tide pool at Cohasset, Mass., 

 by F. G. Bemis in September 1937, 44 are the only 

 definite records for this southern fish within the 

 Gulf. But since it occasionally appears in some 

 numbers at Woods Hole in summer, it may round 

 Cape Cod more often than this paucity of actual 

 records suggests. 



»• We have given a more detailed statement elsewhere (Copeia, 1930, No. 2, 

 p. 46). 



" This specimen, which we have examined, is in the collection of the U. S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service at Woods Hole. 



<i Goode and Bean, Smithsonian Contrib. Know!., vol. 30, 1895, p. 238. 



« Schroeder, Copeia, June 1930, p. 46. 



« Reported by MacCoy, Bull. 67, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1933, p. 9. 



« This specimen, reported by Schroeder (Copeia, 1937, p. 238) is in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



