CHARACTERISTICS OF MARINE FISHES 177 



sailfish are often referred to as mackerel-like fishes. Likewise, one or more of 

 these is present along the Atlantic Coast of the United States from Newfound- 

 land to the tropics, Swordfish are of course a valuable food fish, but marlins and 

 sailfish are sought only by sportsmen. 



The mullets (Mugil) taken on the Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to the 

 tropics, can be classed both as surface and bottom dwellers. If they are not at 

 the surface feeding on plankton, they are on the bottom stirring up ooze and feed- 

 ing on the organic matter obtained. 



A large number of important food fishes of the Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States cannot be classed either as surface or bottom dwellers. Among them are 

 the weakfish of the genus Cynoscion represented by one or more species from 

 Cape Cod to Texas, by scups, pinfishes, porgies, and many other species. 



Among the common commercial fishes that live chiefly at some distance off- 

 shore are codfish, haddock, pollock, several species of hake (Urophycis) , halibut, 

 and tilefish. All of these species are of northern distribution and are taken com- 

 mercially only off the North Atlantic and New England states. The red snapper 

 of the Culf of Mexico also belongs to the group of commercially valuable fishes 

 that fives in rather deep water offshore. 



The commercially important anadromous fishes of the Atlantic Coast of the 

 United States, though missing in the Gulf of Mexico, are the smelt, chiefly of New 

 England, alewives (Pomolobus) and shad. The Atlantic salmon and Atlantic 

 sturgeon formerly belonged to this group, but they have been so greatly re- 

 duced in number that they are no longer important. The striped bass or rockfish, 

 Roccus saxatiles, and the white perch, Morone americana, both food fishes of im- 

 portance along a large part of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, are 

 generally classed as anadromous species, though their journeys to fresh-water 

 spawning grounds are not extensive. 



The common food fishes of the Pacific Coast of the United States are, in large 

 part, related to those of the Atlantic Coast. Indeed, a few are identical. Among 

 them are several species of flounder; some are strictly shore fishes, while others 

 occupy water of moderate depths. The Pacific halibut, like the Atlantic, with 

 which it is considered identical, is one of those that dwells in rather deep water. 

 It is a very valuable fish off the northwestern coast and ranges southward to 

 northern California. The starry flounder, Platichthys stellatus, may be cited as a 

 common shallow water shore form, ranging from Japan to Alaska and southward 

 to Santa Barbara County, Calffornia. The flounders or flatfishes, some of which 

 are marketed as "soles" on the Pacific Coast, dwell on the bottom, and are taken 

 in relatively large quantities along the entire coast of the Pacific states. The 

 rockfishes of the Pacific Coast, consisting of a number of species variously known 

 as "black rockfish," "brown rockfish," "green rockfish," etc., which live principally 

 among the rocks in shallow to moderately deep water, may also be grouped 

 with the bottom dwellers. 



Among the pelagic species of the Pacific Coast of the United States occurs the 

 highly valuable sardine, Sardinops caerulea, taken along the entire length of the 

 coast; the Pacific herring, which is closely related to the Atlantic herring, is taken 

 in commercial abundance as far south as San Diego Bay; and the albacore, which 

 is canned and marketed as "tuna," occurs in commercial numbers only on the 

 coast of California. The bluefin and the yellowfin tunas, also, are among the 



