426 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 220. — Black drum (Pogonias cromis). From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



pointed, but the throat is armed with large, flat, 

 pavement-like teeth with which the drum crushes 

 shellfish for food, a character separating it from 

 its allies the weakfish and the kingfish. The first 

 dorsal fin (10 spines) is rounded-triangular; the 

 second (1 short spine and 20 to 22 rays) oblong; 

 the caudal is square-tipped with moderately high 

 peduncle; the anal fin (2 spines, the first very short 

 and the second long and stout, and 6 or 7 soft rays) 

 is less than half as long as the soft dorsal; the 

 pectorals are sharp pointed and relatively longer 

 than those of the weakfish. The second anal spine 

 is much stouter in young drums than in old ones. 

 The eyes of the drum are comparatively small and 

 its scales are large. 



Color. — Silvery with a brassy lustre, turning to 

 a dark gray after death. Young fish have 4 or 5 

 broad dark vertical bars that fade out with age. 

 The fins are blackish. This drum occurs in two 

 color phases, a grayish and a reddish. 



Size. — Drums grow to a huge size. The largest 

 we find positively recorded (caught in Florida) 

 weighed 146 pounds; adults, as caught, run from 

 20 to 40 pounds, with 60 pounds not exceptional. 

 The rod and reel record is 87 pounds 8 ounces, a 

 fish 4 feet 4 inches long, caught at Cape Charles, 

 Va., May 6, 1950, by Mrs. H. A. Bradley, Jr. 

 A fish 40 inches long weighs about 40 pounds. 



General range. — Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 

 coasts of America from Argentina to southern New 

 England; common from New York southward and 

 abundant from the Carolinas to the Rio Grande; a 

 stray visitor as far north as Massachusetts Bay. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — -This southern 

 fish is decidedly uncommon east of New York; 

 occasional specimens only have been reported from 

 Woods Hole; and it is only a stray visitor to our 

 Gulf, where 2 or 3 specimens have been taken at 

 Provincetown, and 1 in the Mystic River, which 

 empties into Boston Harbor. 



THE TILEFISHES. FAMILY BRANCHIOSTEGIDAE 



The tilefishes are sea-bass-like in appearance, 

 but with the soft (rear) portion of the dorsal fin 

 much longer that the spiny forward part, and the 

 ventral fins are under the pectorals (thoracic). 

 The only species that occurs off the northeastern 

 United States is characterized by a large fleshy 

 flap on the nape, suggesting (though not corre- 

 sponding to) the adipose fin of salmons and smelts. 

 But this adipose flap or fin is not shared by its 

 relatives. 



Tilefish Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps Goode and 

 Bean 1879 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2278. 



Description. — The presence of a thin, high, 

 fleshy, finlike flap on the nape of the neck in front 

 of the dorsal fin, close behind the eyes, suggesting 

 the adipose fin of the salmon tribe in its appearance 

 though not in its location, serves to identify the 

 adult tilefish at a glance among Gulf of Maine 



