PISHES OF NEW YORK 597 



289 Tautoga onitis (Linnaeus) 



Blackfish; Tmitog 



Labrus onitis Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 286, 1758; ed. XII, 478, 1766, 



Tautoga niger Mitchill, Rep. Fish. N. Y. 23, 1814, New York. 



Labrus tautoga Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 399, 1815, Long 



Island. 

 Tautoga americana De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 175, pi. 14, fig. 39, 1842; 



Stoker, Hist. Fish. Mass. 110, pi. XX, fig. 2, 1867. 

 Tautoga mritis Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. IV, 88, 1862; Goode & Bean, 



Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 14, 1879; Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. 



Mus. 600, 1883; Bean, Bull. U. S. F. C. YII, 137, pi. Ill, fig. 3, 1888; 



19th Rep. Comm. Fish. N. Y. 252, pi. V, fig. 7, 1890; Bull. Am. Mus. 



Nat. Hist. IX, 368, 1897; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 102, 1898; 



Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1578, 1898, pi. 



CCXXXVII, fig. 596, 1900; Bean, 52d Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 107, 



1900; Sherwood & Edwards, Bull. U. S. F. G. 1901, 30, 1901. 



Body deep, moderately compressed, the outline of head and 

 back convex, the greatest depth three eighths to one third of 

 total length without caudal, the least depth of caudal peduncle 

 ^qual to postorbital part of head. Head short, blunt, its length 

 contained three and one fourth to three and one half times in 

 "total without caudal; profile of snout very steep; preorbital very 

 wide, wider than the eye; mouth small, with very thick lips, the 

 maxillary reaching the vertical from anterior or posterior nos- 

 tril; eye one fifth as long as the head; snout one third as long 

 as the head; jaws nearly equal in front, with two or three large 

 canines and smaller ones on the. side, gradually diminishing in 

 size backwards. A patch of small scales behind eye extending 

 downward to middle of cheek where there are five or six series; 

 a small patch of scales at upper edge of opercle; head elsewhere 

 naked. About 3+6 very short and blunt gill rakers on first 

 arch. Spinous dorsal composed of stout, sharp spines, the 

 connecting membrane between them projecting beyond them; 

 the first spine as long as the eye; the spines graduallj'' 

 increasing in length to the 11th which is one third as long 

 as the head and twice as long as the first; the remaining spines 

 are about equal to the 11th; the base of soft dorsal is one 

 half as long as the head; the longest ray is nearly twice as long 

 as the last ray and more than one half as long as the head. 

 Caudal convex, the middle rays about one half as long as the 



