FISHES OP NEW YORK 677 



wide apart, with a flat space between them, the inner rays 

 longest; pyloric caeca in moderate number; air bladder generally 

 with lateral muscles and divided into two lateral parts; ver- 

 tebrae 10 or 11 + 15. Species numerous, all but one being Amer- 

 ican. Representing in America the old world genus T r i g 1 a . 

 Some of them in deep water. They are well defined and easily 

 recognized, but vary considerably with age, and are not easily 

 thrown into subordinate groups. . . Young examples in most 

 cases differ from the adults in the following respects, in addi- 

 tion to those characters which usually distinguish young fishes. 

 The spines on the head are sharper, more conspicuous, and more 

 compressed in the young, and some spines, specially those on the 

 side of the head, disappear entirely with age. The interorbital 

 space is more concave in the young. The pectoral fins are also 

 much shorter. The gill rakers are longer in the young, and pro- 

 portionately more slender, and some of the color markings — 

 specially the darker cross shades — are more conspicuous, while 

 the spots on body and fins are less so. 



334 Prionotus carolinus (Linnaeus) 



Sea Robin; Gurnard 



Trigla Carolina Linnaeus, Mantissa, 528. 



Trigla palmipes Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 431, pi. IV, fig. 5, 



1815, New York Harbor. 

 Prionotus palmipes Storee, Hist. Fish. Mass. 18, pi. V, fig. 1, 1867; Jordan 



& Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 734, 1883; Goode, Fish & Fish. 



Ind. U. S. I, 255, pi. 71, 1884. 

 Prionotus carolinus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VI, 90, 1829; 



De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 46, pi. 5, fig. 15, 1842; Gunther, Cat. 



Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 192, 1860; Bean, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 



371, 1897; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 106, 1898; Jordan & 



EvEEMANN, Bull. 47, U. S, Nat. Mus. II, 2156, 1898; IV, pi. CCCXVIII, 



fig. 768, 1900. 



The depth of the body is one fifth of the length, which is three 

 times the length of the head. Head comparatively smooth; pre- 

 opercular spine strong; band of palatine teeth short and broad, 

 shorter than eye; pectorals short, not reaching middle of second 

 dorsal, two and one third in length; pectoral appendages strong, 

 more or less dilated at their tips; ventrals long, reaching anal; 



