86. SEREANID^ STEREOLEPIS. 531 
Lat. 1. 50. Length scarcely a foot. Cape Cod to Florida, abundant, 
ascending all streams coastwise. 
{Perea americana Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, pars iii, 1308, 1789: Labrax rnfus Storer, Hist. 
Fish. Mass. 9: Morone americana Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1860, 116: Perea mu- 
cronata Raf. Ame» Month. Mag. ii, 205: Labrax americanus Holbrook, Ich. S. C. 5: 
Labrax rufus and pallidas Gunther, i, 65, 67.) 
272.— STEREOI.EPIS Ayres. 
Jew Fishes. 
(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1859, 28: type Stereolepis gigas Ayres.) 
Body oblong, somewhat elevated, little compressed. Head robust, 
the profile steeply elevated, the forehead broad and flattish. Edges of 
preopercle and interopercle serrate, becoming nearly entire with age. 
Crown, cheeks, and opercles scaly ; snout, preorbital, and jaws naked. 
Scales small, not strongly ctenoid, their surface rugose with radiating 
strim. Mouth large, wide, iilaced low; lower jaw prominent. Maxil- 
lary with a well-developed supplemental bone, extending to below the 
eye. Preorbital wide, only the anterior edge of the maxillary slipping 
under it. Teeth all villiform, in broad bands, on jaws, vomer, and pal- 
atines. Branchiostegals 7. Pseudobranchise very large. Gill-rakers 
very strong. Dorsal fin with 11 low, stout spines, the hist spines very 
mnch shorter than the middle ones, and all depressible in a deep groove. 
Anal fin similar to soft dorsal, with 3 low, stout spines ; caudal fin 
broad, nearly truncate; pectorals moderate; ventrals long. Pyloric 
coeca about 7. Size enormous, among the largest of Percoid fishes. 
{(jrepeo^j firm; scale.) 
834. S. gfiyas Ayres. — Jeic-fish; Blaclc Sea Bass. 
Brownish with large black blotches, becoming with age nearly uni- 
form greenish black; vertical fins in the young with a conspicuous 
pale edge; ventrals black. Body and head robust; region from occi- 
put to dorsal cariuated. Soft parts of vertical fins scaly ; spinous part 
naked ; first dorsal spine prominent, curved. Ventrals reaching vent, 
one-fourth longer than the pectorals. Head 3; depth 3. D. X-1, 10; 
A. Ill, 8; Lat. 1. 115. Pyloric coeca 7, long. L. 5 feet. Coast of 
California from San Francisco southward, not rare. 
(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 1859, 28: Stereolepis californicus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. 
Sci. Phila. 1863, 330.) 
