FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



411 



Figure 213. — Short big-eye (Pseudopriacanthus alius), Key West, Florida. 



H. L. Todd. 



From Jordan and Evermann. Drawing by 



THE PORGIES. FAMILY SPARIDAE 



The structure of the fins is essentially the same 

 in this family as in the sea basses; both spiny and 

 soft portions of the dorsal are well developed and 

 the ventrals are situated below the pectorals. 

 There are important anatomic differences, how- 

 ever, most obvious of which are that the edge of 

 the gill cover does not end with a sharp spine in 

 the porgies but is rounded or at most bluntly 

 angular; and that the maxillary bone (the bone 

 forming the margin of the upper jaw) is sheathed 

 and hidden by the preorbital bone when the 

 mouth is closed. Long, pointed pectoral fins are 

 likewise characteristic of the family; the spiny 

 and soft portions of the dorsal fin are continuous, 

 and the soft rayed anal fin is about as long as the 

 soft part of the dorsal. 



KEY TO THE GULF OF MAINE PORGIES 



1. Outline of caudal fin deeply lunate, with sharp 



corners _Scup, p. 411 



Outline of caudal fin only slightly concave, with 

 rounded corners. Sheepshead, p. 416 



Scup Stenotomus versicolor (MitchiU) 1815 



PORGY 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1346, as Stenotomus 

 chrysops (Linnaeus), 1766. 



Description. — Although the scup is not marked 

 by any one outstanding character it is made easily 

 recognizable by the fact that the spiny portion of 

 its dorsal fin is considerably longer and higher than 

 the soft-rayed portion, which, with its deeply 

 lunate caudal fin, separates it from all other Gulf 

 of Maine fishes of similarly deep and sidewise- 

 flattened bodies. The scup is about one-half as 

 deep as it is long (to the base of the tail fin) and 

 very thin through, recalling a butterfish (p. 363). 

 But the dorsal profile of its rather short head is 

 slightly concave instead of convex, and its scales 

 rather large, thick and firmly attached; not small, 

 thin and easily detached as they are in the 

 butterfish. 



The mouth of the scup is small, its eyes are 

 situated high up on the side of the head, and the 

 margins of its gill covers are rounded. It has one 



