FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 259 



Habits. — Perch always keep in shallow water; they are never caught deeper 

 than 3 or 4 fathoms. However, they are not bottom fish but wander from place 

 to place in small schools. Like bass, they are resident throughout the year wher- 

 ever found. In winter they congregate in the deeper parts of the bays and creeks, 

 where they either hibernate or at least pass the cold season in a sluggish condition. 



Breeding. — In southern New England the white perch breeds in April, May, 

 and June. Presumably the season commences a few weeks later in the Gulf of 

 Maine, but no definite data are available on this point. Those living in salt water 

 run up into fresh or slightly brackish water to spawn. The eggs (about 0.73 mm. 

 in diameter, with large oil globule) sink and stick together in masses or to any 

 object on which they chance to rest. In fact, they are so sticky that this is a diffi- 

 cult fish to propagate artificially. Incubation occupies about 6 days at a tempera- 

 ture of 52°. The newly hatched larvse are about 2.3 mm. long with the vent some 

 distance behind the yolk sac and very little pigment. In five or six days after 

 hatching, the head begins to project forward, the yolk sac has been partly absorbed, 

 and branched pigment cells have appeared on the oil globule. The late larval and 

 post larval stages have not been described. 22 



Commercial importance. — Wherever the white perch is abundant in tide waters 

 it is of considerable commercial importance, for there is no better pan fish. It 

 also affords good sport to many anglers. In neither of these respects, however, 

 does it figure at all in the Gulf of Maine. 



99. Sea bass (Centropristes striatus Linna?us) 

 Black sea bass; Blackfish 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1199. 



Description. — The sea bass is easily distinguished from its near relatives, the 

 striped bass and white perch, by the fact that the spinous and soft-rayed portions 

 of its dorsal fin are continuous, so that there is but one long fin instead of two short 

 separate fins. In this it agrees with the scup (p. 263), rosefish (p. 304), cunner (p. 

 281), and tautog (p. 286), but its general form, rounded caudal and pectoral fins, 

 and short but high anal fin are sufficient to separate it from the first, its color obvi- 

 ates all danger of confusing it with the second, while no one should take sea bass 

 for tautog or cunner, its mouth and its pectoral fins being much larger, its caudal 

 of different outline, and the soft portion of its dorsal as long as the spiny portion. 



It is moderately stout bodied, about three times as long (not counting the 

 caudal fin) as deep, with rather high back but flat-topped head, moderately pointed 

 nose, a large oblique mouth, eye set high up, and a sharp flat spine near the posterior 

 angle of the gill cover. The spiny (10 spines) and soft (11 rays) portions of the 

 dorsal fin (which originates slightly in front of the rear corner of the gill cover) are 

 separately rounded, the latter much higher than long, with the characteristic out- 

 line shown in the illustration (fig. 123). The caudal is rounded in the middle, 

 slightly concave near each corner, with the upper corner considerably prolonged, 



" Ryder (Report, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1S85 (1887), p. 518) describes the early development. 



