356 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



"History of the Carolinas," in 1737, and named 

 viilpes, or "fox," by Linn^us, in 1758, from a 

 specimen taken at the Bahamas. 



It inhabits the sandy shores of all warm seas 

 and is, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan of all 

 game-fishes, being known from Asia, Arabia, 

 North and South America, the Pacific Islands, 

 etc. It is common on the coasts of the Atlantic 

 and Pacific in the United States, and is especially 

 abundant in Florida waters, occasionally straying 

 in summer as far north as Long Island. 



The lady-fish is allied to the herring tribe. It 

 has a long, gracefully-shaped body, nearly round, 

 or but little compressed ; its depth is a fourth of 

 its length ; it has a long head with a projecting, 

 piglike snout, overlapping the small mouth, which 

 is well armed with teeth ; both jaws and the roof 

 of the mouth in front have bands of brushlike 

 teeth, with patches of coarse, blunt, paved teeth 

 on the back of the mouth and tongue. Its color 

 is bluish green above, with metallic reflections ; 

 the sides are very bright and silvery, with faint 

 streaks along the rows of scales; the belly is 

 white, and it feeds on small fishes and crustaceans. 



Its spawning habits are not well understood, 

 though the young pass through a metamorphosis, 



