FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



279 



The larvae are marked at first with three vertical bands of black and dull gold pig- 

 ment cells — the first above the vent, the others posterior to it, dividing the caudal 

 region into three nearly equal parts. There is a similar patch of black and gold on the 

 anterior part of the dorsal finfold, but as development proceeds these markings 

 become fainter and a row of black pigment cells appears along the ventral surface 

 behind the vent. The later larval stages are not known, and the youngest fry so 

 far taken (25 to 30 mm. long) show most of the structural characters of the adult, 

 including the scales, and are readily recognizable as kingfish though they vary 

 widely in color, ranging from the pattern of the adult to almost uniform blackish 

 brown. 41 From an examination of the scales, confirmed by a large series of measure- 

 ments, Welsh found that kingfish are 4 to 6 inches long by the first winter, 

 average about 10 inches the second winter, and 13% the third. Many males ripen 

 when two years old, but few females until three years old. 



Commercial importance. — The kingfish is too rare in the Gulf to interest either 

 commercial fishermen or anglers. It is, however, one of the best of table fish. 



Fig. 130. — Black drum (Pogonias cromis) 



105. 



Black drum a (Pogonias cromis Linnaeus) 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1482. 



Description. — A short deep body (only three and one-third times as long as deep) 

 with high-arched back but flat belly is characteristic of the drum. The profile of 

 the face, too, is even more diagnostic, for the mouth is very low down, the eye high 

 up, and the chin bears a number of barbels. The arrangement and sizes of the fins 

 are essentially the same as in the weakfish, except that the spinous and soft dorsals 

 are not entirely separate, while the latter is relatively shorter and the anal spine 



« This account is from eggs artificially fertilized and hatched by Welsh. 



" The channel bass, or red drum (Sciserwps ocellatus Linn.), a southern Scisenid uncommon east or north of New York, is 

 represented in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History by a mounted specimen labeled "near Portland, Me.," 

 but since this fish was probably purchased in the market it is more likely that it had been shipped from the south than that it 

 was actually caught nearby. Should this species ever be taken in the Gulf of Maine, its relationship to the weakfish, kingfish, 

 and drum would be apparent from the arrangement of its fins, especially from the shortness of the anal fin relative to the soft 

 (second) dorsal. However, it is easily distinguished from the weakfish by the fact that its upper jaw extends beyond the lower, 

 instead of vice versa, and frrm kingfish and drum by the lack of barbels on the chin, while the presence of a conspicuous black 

 blotch (rarely two blotches) on each side at the base of the caudal fin affords a ready field mark for its identification. 



