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THE SHEEPSHEAD. 



THE SHEEPSHEAD. 



The pleasantest angling is to see the fish 

 Cut with her golden oars the silver stream 

 And greedily devour the treacherous bait. 



Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act iii, Scene I . 



'"P^HE members of the family Sparidae, the " Sea-Breams " as they are 

 often called, are especially characterized by their heavy, rather com- 

 pressed bodies, their large heads, and strong jaws and teeth. In addition 

 to one or more series of teeth in the front of the jaws, either conical or in- 

 cisorial in shape, adapted for tearing their food from its lodging places, 

 they always have a set of heavy, flat, grinding-teeth in the back of the 

 mouth, which are often in double or triple rows on each side and are closely 

 set, like the stones in a mosaic. Their use is to crush hard shells of mol- 

 lusks and of barnacles, and other crustaceans. They are sedentary in 

 their habits, living close to the bottom and browsing among the rocks 

 and piles. Their colors are usually inconspicuous and their motions slug- 

 gish. Representatives of this family are found throughout the world in 

 temperate and tropical waters everywhere, and were numerous in the seas 

 and lagoons of the Tertiary and Cretaceous periods. 



The most important representatives of the family in America, are the 



