86. SEEEANID^ — SEEEANUS. 533 
as well as along the front 5 teeth mostly fixed. Preopercle serrate be- 
hind ; opercle ending in 2 flat spines. Cheeks and opercles scaly. Gill- 
rakers shortish, stout. Fins little scaly. Dorsal fin continuous or 
emarginate, with 10 strong spines and 11-15 soft rays. Anal spines 
well developed. Caudal fin lunate or truncate. Occii>ital crests little 
developed. Pyloric coeca few. Vertebrse 10 -f 14. Species very nu- 
merous in warm seas. Several modern genera are here included, some 
of which may perhaps merit restoration. 
The typical species of Centropristis differs from Serranns scriba and 
its relatives in numerous respects, notably in the scarcely differentiated 
canines, the broader bands of teeth, the broader head, the stronger 
serrm on the opercle, the rudimentary dorsal groove and nearly naked 
spinous dorsal (in Serranus proper, of which we have no typical species, 
there is no trace of a groove and the dorsal is more scaly), the larger 
scales, and the shorter soft dorsal. Each of these characters is shared 
witli some of the species now referred to Serranus, and any line of divi- 
sion of the two grouijs is simi)ly arbitrary, at least until the species are 
better known. 
{Serran or serrano, a vernacular name; from the Latin serra, a saw.) 
* Caudal trilobate or trifurcate. 
t Dorsal spiues simple. ( C'e« tropWstis * Cuvier.) 
S36. S. ata’ariMS (L.) J. & G. — Black Fish; Black Sea Bass. 
Dusky brown or black ; more or less mottled, with traces of pale longi- 
tudinal streaks along the rows of scales ; young greenish, often with a 
dark lateral band, sometimes broken ^up, forming cross-bars; dorsal fin 
with several series of elongate, whitish spots, forming interruptetl lines ; 
other fins dusky, mottled. Body ovate, robust, the back somewhat ele- 
vated; axis of body below the middle of the depth. Head large, thick, 
little compressed, somewhat pointed ; top of head naked ; cheeks and 
opercles scaly ; scales on cheeks in about 11 rows. Mouth oblique, low, 
rather large, the liremaxillary below the lev'el of the eye ; lower jaw 
prominent; maxillary broad, its upper edge anteriorly slipping under 
the edge of the broad preorbital, which is nearly as wide as the eye. 
Eye large, wider than interorbital space, less than snout, 4^ in head. 
Gill-rakers long. Canines very small, scarcely differentiated. Teeth 
all fixed, the bands rather broader than usual. Dorsal spines rather 
* Cuvier, Ecgne Aiiim. ed. 2, 1829: type Centropristis nUjricans Cnv. = Perca atraria 
L. (^cVr/ooK, spine ; Trptorr/?, saw.) 
