88. SPAEIDJ2 SPARUS. 
555 
front of which is a row of larger conical teeth directed backward; no 
teeth on vomer or palatines; preorbital narrower than eye; preopercle 
strongly serrate, Branchiostegals 6. Dorsal fin continuous, with 12 
spines which may be depressed in a shallow groove; soft rays of dor- 
sal and anal fins elevated; anal spines graduated; bases of soft dorsal 
and anal thickened and scaly; caudal rounded. Air-bladder present. 
Tyloric coeca 3; vertebrae 13+ 11. {XojSorec, lobed ; the soft parts of 
dorsal, anal, and caudal said to resemble one three-lobed fin.) 
876. Ij. SMrinametisis (Bloch) Cuvier. — Flasher. 
Blackish above, becoming silvery-gray on the sides; often blotched 
and tinged with yellow; fins dusky gray, sometimes with yellow. 
Head small. Profile from dorsal to occiput strongly convex, from occi- 
put to snout concave; maxillary reaching beyond middle of orbit. 
Scales around eye very small, those on opercle large. Eye small, 
much shorter than snout. Pectorals shorter than veutrals, which do 
not reach vent; soft dorsal higher than the spinous portion. Head 3; 
depth 2+ D. XII, IG; A. Ill, 11; L, lat. 47. A large fish, reaching a 
length of from 2 to 3 feet, and found in all warm seas; north on our 
coast to Cape Cod. 
(Holocentrus snrinamensis Bloch &. Schueicler, 1801, 316: Lohotes ai«ctorM7)i Giiuther, 
i, 338; Holbrook, Ich. S. C. 1860, 169.) 
286.— SPARUS Linnsus. 
(FageUiis, Chrysophrys and Pagrus Cuvier; Calamus Svvaiuson.) 
(Liuufeus, Syst. Nat.: type Spams auratus L.) 
Body oblong or ovate, compressed, covered with moderate-sized 
scales. Head moderate. Opercles not armed. Cheeks scaly. Mouth 
rather small, terminal, low. Anterior teeth iii the jaws cardiform, the 
outer series of teeth generally enlarged, sometimes canine-like, not com- 
pressed. Both jaws with two or more series of rounded molar teeth, 
which are sometimes irregularly mixed with slender teeth; no teeth on 
vomer or palatines. Dorsal rather low, the spines, 11-13 in number, 
depressible in a groove; anal spines moderate, the second not greatly 
developed. Caudal fin forked. Air-bladder simple. Gill-rakers short. 
Branchiostegals 6. Intestinal canal short. Pyloric coeca few. Carniv- 
orous fishes, mostly of the Atlantic, {ff-dpoq^ Sparus, the ancient name; 
from G-aipu)^ to struggle.) 
a. Anterior teeth not canine-like. (Pagellus* C. & V.) 
* Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. vi, 169, 1830: type Spams erythrinus Li. 
{From 2)agel, a French name of Spams erythrinus.) 
