FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



473 



spicuous respects in which the flying gurnard dif- 

 fers noticeably from its relatives, the sea robins, 

 are that the first five or six rays of each pectoral, 

 with their interconnecting membrane, form a 

 separate fin, having no connection with the re- 

 mainder of the pectoral except at the base; that 

 the few lowermost rays of each pectoral fin are not 

 separate, in the form of feelers, but are continuous 

 with the remainder of the fin; that the first two 

 spines of the dorsal fin are separate, that the bony 

 armor covering the front and top of the head 

 reaches rearward considerably beyond the origin 

 of the dorsal fin on either side to end in a stout 

 spine, that each gill cover 72 is extended rearward 

 as a stout spine about as far as the axil of the 

 pectoral fin, and that the scales are much larger 

 and each armed with a short stout spine. 



Color. — This is a very brilliant fish, varying 

 widely in color; most of them are of some shade of 

 brownish to greenish olive above, with the lower 

 side paler, but marked irregularly with reddish 

 salmon or salmon yellow. The winglike pectorals 

 are variously marked with bright blue streaks near 



their bases, with blue spots and bars toward their 

 tips. The caudal fin usually has about three 

 brownish-red cross bars. 



Size. — To about 12 inches. 



General range.- — Tropical to warm temperate 

 latitudes of both coasts of the Atlantic; south to 

 Brazil and north rather commonly to North Caro- 

 lina on the American coast; a few to New York 

 and the southern coast of Massachusetts in most 

 years (in autumn 73 ) ; recorded as a stray from 

 Massachusetts Bay. A dried and hardened speci- 

 men that was found on the shore near Country 

 Harbor, Nova Scotia, in September 1939, by 

 Stanley McKinley, among the kelp and eel grass 

 that had been washed ashore duriug the night, was 

 thought by him (no doubt correctly) to have been 

 carried north on the deck of some steamer from 

 the south. 74 



Occurrence in the Oulj of Maine.- — The only 

 report of this warm-water fish from north or east 

 of Cape Cod is of one said to have been taken in 

 Massachusetts Bay. 76 



THE CUNNER TRIBE, OR WRASSES. FAMILY LABRIDAE 



Members of the cunner family have a single 

 long dorsal fin, its forward part spiny, its rear 

 part soft rayed, with no evident demarkation 

 between the two. The ventral fins are located 

 under the pectorals, and the caudal peduncle is 

 very deep. The structure of the dorsal fin is 

 sufficient of itself to distinguish them from all 

 Gulf of Maine fishes except the scup, sea bass, 

 rosefish, tilefish, or certain sculpins. And there 

 is no danger of confusing a cunner or tautog with 

 any of these, for their rounded tails and pectorals, 

 and their general body-forms separate them at a 

 glance from the thin-bodied, fork-tailed scup; their 

 small mouths and the relative sizes of their fins 

 are obvious distinctions between them and the sea 

 bass tribe; their smooth cheeks and broad caudal 

 fins separate them from the spiny-headed, narrow- 

 tailed rosefish or from any sculpin; and they do 

 not in the least resemble the tilefish with its broad 

 mouth, adipose "fin" on the nape of its neck, con- 

 cave tail fin, and pointed pectorals. Both the 

 roof of the mouth and the floor of the throat 

 (pharynx) is armed with a patch of conical or 



" Actually the preopcrcular bone. 

 210941—53 31 



knoblike teeth in the cunner tribe. It is with 

 these that they grind the hard-shelled mollusks 

 and crustaceans on which they feed. 



KEY TO GULF OF MAINE CUNNERS 



1. Gill covers scaly, snout somewhat pointed, dorsal 

 profile of head rather flat Cunner, p. 473 



Gill covers largely naked, snout blunt, dorsal profile 

 of head high-arched Tautog, p. 478 



Cunner Tautoyolabrus adspersus (Walbaum) 1792 



Perch; Sea perch; Blue perch; Bergall; Chogset 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1577. 



Description. — The readiest field marks by which 

 the cunner may be distinguished from its close 

 relative, the tautog, are mentioned on page 479. 

 It is moderately deep in body, moderately flat- 

 tened sidewise, with a very deep caudal peduncle, 



'3 The most recent record from Woods Hole, of which we have heard, Is of 

 two taken there on November 24, 1948, from the deck of Albatross 111 while 

 she was moored at the dock (Arnold, Copela, 1949, p. 300). 



'< McKenzie, Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Scl., vol. 20, 1940, p. 44. 



" This specimen is now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, to which 

 It was transferred from the Boston Society of Natural History. There Is no 

 clue to its origin, except that It was taken many years ago. 



