JCIENID^. 207 



ACANTHOPTERYGU. SCIENlDiE. 



THE LAFAYETTE 



SEA CHUB. 



Leiostomus Obliquus ; Lacepede. 



Th sisa beautiful and exquisitely-flavored little fish, which pro- 

 perly belongs to the southern waters, being very common on the coasts 

 of Florida, where it is much prized both as a sporting fish and as a 

 delicacy. 



New York is probably its northern limit, and in the New York 

 waters it is a rare visitant, though it appears at times in extraordinary 

 abundance. 



One of the seasons of its most remarkable frequency happening to 

 be simultaneous with the visit of Lafayette to America, it thus obtained 

 its common name by general consent, it never having been observed 

 previous to that date, and so taken for a new fish, though it had in 

 truth been defined long before by Dr. Mitchil, who designated it 

 Mugil Obliqims. 



Its color is grayish white, with fifteen or sixteen darker gray bars, 

 more or less, pointing obliquely forward, those nearer the tail more 

 vertical ; pupils black, irides yellow, fins pale yellow, the dorsal and 

 anal finely spotted with black. There is a round spot of dark brown 

 on the lateral line above the pectorals. 



The first dorsal fin has nine spinous rays, and is triangular in shape, 

 its fourth and fifth rays being the largest ; the second dorsal lias one 

 spine and thirty soft rays ; the pectorals twenty, the ventrals fifteen 

 soft rays ; the anal has two spines and twelve soft rays ; the caudal 

 has nineteen branched and articulated rays. 



There is a variety of this fish, Leiostomus Xanthurus, peculiar to 

 South Carolina, which has no spots or bands, but has all the fins, and 

 more especially the caudal, yellow. 



