474 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND "WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Figure 249. — Cunner (Taulogolabrus adspersus). A, adult, Woods Hole, Mass.; from Goode, drawing by H. L. Todd. 

 B, egg; C, larva, newly hatched, 2.2 mm.; D, larva, 4.2 mm.; E, young, 8 mm. B-E, after Kuntz and Radcliffe. 



flat-topped head (in the tautog the dorsal profile 

 is high arched), small mouth at the tip of the 

 snout, rather pointed nose, and protractile pre- 

 maxillary bones. Its lips, too, are thinner than 

 those of the tautog. It has several rows of conical 

 teeth of various sizes in each jaw, the outer ones 

 very stout. Its body and gill covers are covered 

 with large scales (in the tautog there is a naked 

 area in front of each gill opening), and its skin is 

 so tough that the fish must be skinned before 

 marketing. Its dorsal fin (about 18 spines and 

 9 or 10 soft rays) originates over the upper corner 

 of the gill cover, i. e., a little in front of the pecto- 

 ral fins, and runs back to the caudal peduncle. 

 The first 4 or 5 rays of the dorsal fin are graduated, 

 the others are of about equal lengths. The soft 

 part is only a little more than one-third as long as 



the spiny part, and is rounded in outline. The 

 rear margin of the caudal fin is slightly convex 

 with rounded corners. The anal fin (3 stout 

 spines and about 9 rays) originates under or 

 behind the middle of the dorsal and corresponds 

 to the soft part of the latter in outline. The 

 ventrals stand under or a little behind the pecto- 

 rals; both the ventrals and the pectorals are of 

 moderate size, and the pectorals are rounded. 



Color. — To describe the color of the cunner is to 

 list all the colors of the bottoms on which it lives, 

 for it is one of the most variable of fishes. As a 

 rule the upper parts range from reddish brown 

 (darker or paler) of a bluish cast to blue with 

 brownish tinge, variously mottled with blue, 

 brown, and reddish. Some fish, however, are 

 uniform brown, while fish caught over mud bot- 



