The Kingfishes 



bb. Mouth smaller, the maxillary scarcely reaching eye, }\ in head. 



itndttlatus, 465 

 aa. Gill-rakers present, very short and rather slender littoralis, 465 



The most important species is the sand whiting or Carolina whit- 

 ing, Meiiticirrhns aniericanns. It is found on our South Atlantic and 



Gulf coasts from the Chesapeake Bay to Texas. It is very common on 

 sandy shores southward, and is a food-fish of considerable importance. 



Colour, grayish silvery, with obscure darker clouds along back 

 and sides, these marks forming dusky bars running obliquely forward 

 and downward to below the lateral line, the bar at the nape saddle- 

 shaped. 



The Northern whiting, kingfish, or sea-mink, M. saxatilis, is 

 found from Cape Ann to Key West and Pensacola, its centre of greatest 

 abundance being northward. It is a good food-fish. Colour, dusky- 

 gray above, sometimes blackish, the back and sides with distinct 

 dark oblique cross-bands running downward and forward, the anterior 

 one at the nape extending downward, meeting the second and thus 

 forming a V-shaped blotch on each side. 



The California whiting, M. itndulatiis, occurs from the Santa 

 Barbara Islands southward on sandy shores, and is a food-fish of some 

 value. M elongatus is found from Mazatlan to Panama and is very 

 common in the surf. Colour, bluish on back and sides, silvery below, 

 without stripes or bands. 



The surf whiting or silver whiting, M. littoralis, is found on 

 sandy shores from the Carolinas to Texas and is generally common. 

 Colour, silvery gray above, with bluish and bronze reflections, with- 



465 



