250 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Commercial importance. — This is one of our very best table fish, fat, oily, but 

 of delicious flavor. First-hand experience with many a one fresh from the net as 

 well as on the table proves the old tale that butterfish have a peculiar nauseous 

 odor to be a myth. However, they often served as manure during the first half of 

 the past century, and appreciation of the fact that the} 7 are too good for this use 

 is of such recent growth that even to-day the demand for butterfish in Boston is 

 uncertain and price widely variable. 



96. Harvestfish (Peprilus paru Linnseus) 



Starfish; Pappyfish 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 965. 



Description. — This is an even deeper fish than the common butterfish, the body 

 (not counting the caudal peduncle) being almost as deep as long, ovate in outline, 



--■-■■ \ - x 



'?$:■' 



"V 



^ 



Fig. 117.— Harvestfish {Peprilus paru) 



its nose rounded, its mouth very small, and its head very short. The outline of the 

 dorsal and anal fins affords the readiest field mark to separate it from its relative, 

 the butterfish, both being very high and falcate in front, narrowing farther back 

 (compare fig. 117 with fig. 115). The mucus pores, so conspicuous in the butter- 

 fish, are lacking in the harvestfish. There is also a color difference between the 

 two, the latter being described (we have no color notes from life) as greenish above 

 and golden yellow below. In all other respects, including size, it so closely resem- 

 bles the butterfish that no further account is called for. 



General range. — West Indies and south and middle Atlantic coasts of North 

 America; rarely north to Cape Cod. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This southern fish was taken at Monomoy 

 Point by Dr. W. C. Kendall, in 1896, which is its only Gulf of Maine record. 



