The Chopas 



1 8 inches, and is used as food. It is distinguished chiefly by the shape 

 of the anal and the bright gray or steel-blue colouration. 



K. incisor, the chopa amarilla, has been recorded from Cuba, Bra- 

 zil, and the Canaries. It reaches 2% to 3 feet in length and is a rare 

 species. 



K. elegans, the chopa, is found on our Pacific coast from Guaymas 

 to Mazatlan. It is rather common about Mazatlan, especially in the 

 sluggish waters of the astillero. It reaches a foot or more in length. 



K. sectatrix is the most important species of the genus. It is of 

 wide distribution, occurring on our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 

 among the West Indies, and straying north to Cape Cod and even to 

 the Canaries and Palermo. It is known as the rudder-fish, Bermuda 

 chub, chub, and chopa blanca. It has long been noted for its habit 

 of following vessels, supposedly for the waste food thrown overboard; 

 hence the name rudder-fish. About Key West the chub is locally 

 abundant, preferring the vicinity of shoals and bars. It is said to school 

 in summer. The maximum size is 8 or 9 pounds, the average being 

 only 2 or 3 pounds. As a game-fish this is the most interesting of the 

 family. At Key West it is readily taken with the hook baited with 

 pieces of the spiny crawfish. It bites quickly and makes a splendid 

 fight, its tactics being those of a very large bluegill. Any angler going 

 to Key West or Bermuda should not fail-to spend a day in chub-fishing. 



The remaining species of this genus, K. liitescens, is known only 

 from the Revillagigedo Islands, where it is not rare. 



The genus Sectator Jordan & Fesler is close to Kyphosits, from 

 which it differs in its smaller incisor teeth and in the deeply-forked 

 caudal. The single known species, S. ocyurns, is very rare, being 

 known only from Panama. 



Thegenus Medialuiia Jordan & Fesler differs from Kyphostis ch\e(\y 

 in the very narrow rootless incisors. The single species, M. califonii- 

 ensis, is a handsome fish found on our Pacific coast from Point Con- 

 ception to Cerros Island. 



It is abundant on the rocky coast of southern California, reaches a 

 foot in length, and is an excellent food-fish. Colour, blackish, with 

 steely lustre; paler, often mottled below; side with faint oblique verti- 

 cal lines of spots; fins blackish. 



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