4.-A REVIEW OF THE SPAROID FISHES OF AMERICA AND 



EUROPE. 



liY David Stahu Jouuan and Bintr Feslkk. 



In the present paper is g^iven a review of the genera and species of 

 Sparidcv {\)OYgief^, snappers, grunts, etc.) found in the waters of America 

 and Europe. The family of Sparidcv is here provisionally acceptt^d 

 with the limitations as given in the "Synopsis of the Fishes of North 

 America" (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883). It is recognized as containing 

 those perciform fishes which have maxillary and ventral sheaths and 

 which lack tlie peculiarities of certain other groups. In this sense the 

 family would contain the ISparidw and Pristipomatidm of Giinther or the 

 Sparidcv, HaunuUdcv {Pristipomatidcc), Lutjanidcc, and Fimelepteridce, of 

 Dr. Gill. While it is evident that the group as here accepted is a 

 somewhat heterogeneous one, it is still doubtful what division it should 

 undergo in order to represent most faithfully the relations of its con- 

 stituent parts. For the present, therefore, we may leave the group as 

 defined by Jordan & Gilbert : 



Body oblong, or more or less elevated, covered with luoderate-sized, adherent 

 scales, which ai'e more or less strongly ctenoid or almost cycloid. Lateral line well 

 developed, concurrent with the back, not extending on the caudal fin. Head large, 

 the crests on the skull usually largely developed. No suborbital stay; mouth mod- 

 erate or large, usually terminal, low, and horizontal. Premaxillaries protractile; 

 maxillary without supplemental bone, for most of its length slipping under the edge 

 of the preorbital, which forms a more or less distinct sheath; preorbital usually, 

 but not always, broad; teeth various and variously placed; lower pharyngeals sep- 

 .-irate; gills, four, a large slit behind the fourth; pseudobranchi:e large; gill-rakers 

 moderate; gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus; preoperclo serrate or 

 entire; opercle without spines; sides of head usually scaly ; dorsal fin single, con- 

 tinuous, or deeply notched, sometimes divided into two fins, the spines usually 

 strong, depressible in a groove; the spines heteracanthous, that is, alternating, the 

 one stronger on tlic riglit side, the other on the left; the spines 10 to 18 in number; 

 anal fin similar to the soft dorsal, and with 3 spines; ventral fins thoracic, the rays 

 1,5, with a more or less distinct scale-like appendage at base; caudal fin usually 

 more or less concave behind; air bladder present, usually simple; pyloric cteca few 

 or many; vertebrae usually 10-f 14=24, 16-{- 18=34 in one subfamily. 



421 



