FISHES OF NEW YORK 003 



to the soft dorsal; the first spine one half as long as the eye, the 

 second as long as the eye, and the third three fourths as long 

 as the second; the longest rays equal one half of greatest depth 

 of body. Pectoral short, rounded, one half as long as the head. 

 Ventral much longer, as long as the head, reaching beyond the 

 rent. 



D. VIII, I, 20 to 22; A. Ill, 18; V. I, 5; P. I, 16; lateral line 

 60 to 65; pyloric caeca 4 to 6; vertebrae 9 or 10-14. 



Grayish; a dusky band across the eye to the throat; a second 

 similar band, broader, beginning in front of the dorsal and ex- 

 tending across the base of the pectoral to the belly; a third 

 band, narrower, extending to the middle of the sides from the 

 base of the fourth and fifth dorsal spines; a fourth broader band 

 from the last dorsal spines to anal spines, the remaining bands 

 alternately short and long; all of these bands growing obscure 

 and disappearing with age; ventrals black. 



The moonfish is the sheepshead chaetodon of Mitchill, and the 

 banded ephippus of De Kay. Dr Mitchill records it as taken at 

 the east end of Long Island, July 27, 1815. De Kay, in his New 

 York Fauna, has the following concerning the species: ''About 

 twenty years since, they were caught here in seines in great 

 numbers and exposed in the markets for sale. Some of them 

 were 18 inches long. Those described by Mitchill were captured 

 in 1815 and 1817. The popular names of three-tailed sheepshead 

 and three-tailed porgee were given them by the fishermen in 

 allusion to their prolonged dorsal and anal fins. . . Schoepff 

 states that it is called angelfish in South Carolina." 



The species is called spadefish in the states bordering the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



The moonfish has occasionally been taken as far north as 

 Cape Cod. Dr Smith records it as a very rare straggler in Vine- 

 yard Sound, Mass. A. specimen was obtained in 1889, and three 

 have been observed since. All were taken in traps at Menemsha 

 in August and September. The fish were uniform in size and 

 about 16 to 18 inches long. The species reaches a length of 

 2 to 3 feet. Southward it is recorded from as far as Guatemala. 



