86. SERRANID^ — STEREOLEPIS. 531 



Lat. 1. 59. Length scarcely a foot. Cape Cod to Florida, abundant, 

 ascending all streams coastwise. 



(Perca americana Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, pars iii, 1308, 1789: Lahrax rufiis Storer, Hist. 

 Fish. Mass. 9: Morone americana Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1830, IIG: Perca mii- 

 cronata Kaf. Amei* Month. Mag. ii, 205: Labrax americaniis Holbrook, Ich. S. C. 5: 

 Lahrax ruj'us und paUidus Giinther, i, 65, 67.) 



272.— STEREOLEPIS Ayres. 

 Jew Fishes. 



(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci. 1859, 28: type Stereolepis gigas Ayres.) 



Body oblong, somewhat elevated, little compressed. Head robust, 

 the profile steeply elevated, the forehead broad and flattish. Edges of 

 preopercle and interopercle serrate, becoming nearly entire with age. 

 Crown, cheeks, and opercles scaly ; snout, preorbital, and jaws naked. 

 Scales small, not strongly ctenoid, their surface rugose with radiating 

 striae. Mouth large, wide, placed low ; lower jaw prominent. Maxil- 

 lary with a well-developed supplemental bone, extending to below the 

 eye. Preorbital wide, only the anterior edge of the maxillary slipping 

 nnder it. Teeth all villiform, in broad bands, on jaws, vomer, and pal- 

 atines. Branchiostegals 7. Pseudobranchiae very large. Gill-rakers 

 very strong. Dorsal fin with 11 low, stout spines, the last spines very 

 much shorter than the middle ones, and all depressible in a deep groove. 

 Anal fin similar to soft dorsal, with 3 low, stout spines ; caudal fin 

 broad, nearly truncate; pectorals moderate; ventrals long. Pyloric 

 cceca about 7. Size enormous, among the largest of Percoid fishes. 

 (<TT£:/)£</?, firm ; As-tc, scale.) 



834. S. g^i$j^as Ayres. — Jew-fish; Black Sea Bass. 



Brownish with largo black blotches, becoming with age nearly uni- 

 form greenish black; vertical fins in the young with a conspicuous 

 pule edge ; ventrals black. Body and head robust ; region from occi- 

 put to dorsal carinated. Soft parts of vertical fins scaly ; spinous part 

 naked ; first dorsal spine prominent, curved. Ventrals reaching vent, 

 one-fourth longer than the pectorals. Head 3; depth 3. D. X-1, 10; 

 A. Ill, 8; Lat. 1. 115. Pyloric cceca 7, long. L. 5 feet. Coast of 

 California from San Francisco southward, not rare. 



(Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 1859, 28: Stereolepis calif ornicus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. 

 Sti. Phila. 1863, 330.) 



