132 FISHES or THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



ventral and anal lighter. Body, oblong — elliptical, moderately compressed, not 

 alevated. Mouth, moderate, without distinct canines ; tongue with a large oval 

 patch of teeth, besides which are five or six smaller patches ; nostrils round, near 

 together. Preopcrcle finely serrate, its notch obsolete. ''Gill-rakers very long and 

 slender. Dorsal spines rather slender; 2d. anal spine a little longer than 3d.; 

 caudal fin lunate, its lobes not attenuate. Head 3^ ; depth 3. D. XII , 11 ; A. 

 Ill, 8 ; Lat I. 54. L. 1.54. West Indies, North to S. Carolina and Florida. 



Crab-Eater, or Sergeant Fish. — Elacate canada. — (Linn.-- 

 Gill.) — The tfivial name " sergeant fish," comes from the dark stripe 

 on the side, resembling that on the trowsers of a non-commissioned 

 officer. In shape the crab-eater resembles the pike of fresh water, 

 £^ox — being long and cylindrical, with a similar formation of head 

 and jaws. Its habits also are similar to those of the pike, lying under 

 w'^eeds and banks, waiting to seize upon smaller fishes. I have not 

 met with it in the Halifax River, but have found it abundant at the 

 Indian River Inlet, where it averages three feet in length, weighing 

 live or six pounds. Takes mullet bait eagerly. In game qualities 

 and value of flesh it is perhaps equal to the pike — not very high 

 praise. 



JORDAN AND GILliERT"s DEECRIPTION. 



E. canadensis — (1 inn. — Gill ) — Crab-eater, Cobia. Olive brown ; sides with adis- 

 iinct broad band of darker, and a less distinct band above and below it ; below, 

 silvery. Head much depressed ; mouth moderate, the short maxillary reaching 

 front of orbit. Pectorals broad and falcate ; caudal deeply eraarginate, the upper 

 iobe the longer. Lateral line wavy and irregular, descending posteriorly. Head 

 41^ in length ; depth 5 2-3, D VIII-i, 26 : A. II, 25. L 5 feet. In ail warm 

 seas, occasional on our Atlantic coast in summer. 



