THE SEA-BASSES 



LTHOUGH somewhat anomalous and 

 inconsistent and confusing from the lay- 

 ^^ man's or angler's standpoint, our fish 

 savants have placed such fresh-water 

 fishes as the white perch, white bass, yellow bass, 

 and the anadromous striped bass, in the same family 

 classification as the exclusively salt-water jew fishes, 

 groupers, hinds, mangrove snappers, the big black 

 sea-basses of hundreds of pounds in weight, squirrel 

 fishes, and scores of other fishes of the tropical and 

 semi-tropical seas on both sides of the Continent. 

 But the giant factor — anatomical similitude — 

 must and should rule in ichthyological science, or the 

 scientist and the layman would be all adrift in the 

 confusion and confliction of vernacular names and 

 unreliable systems of marshalling the denizens of 

 the water. 



Under the family title of Serranidce, we find in- 

 cluded the fresh-water fishes previously named, the 

 first of these in its classified grade being the white 

 perch. Singular as it may seem, this fish has but 

 one common name, — a condition unrivalled by any 

 other taken on hook and line ; it is known from 

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