214 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



but appeals on the northern coasts only in the summer, for jaeriods varying witli lati- 

 tude and climate. In the Middle States its advent is quite early in the spring, but it 

 becomes most abundant from early June to September. Its visits, however, have 

 been occasionally interrujited, and its paucity or almost absence during some years has 

 been attributed to the blue-fish, which is the most formidable enemy of the species. 

 When, in past times, the blue-fish liad left the coast, the weak-fish increased in 

 numbers, and in some years it has been extremely abundant. 



Although a moderately good table fish, it by no means ranks among the best, and 

 indeed does not bring a very high price, for the flesh is soft and flabby, and of little 

 value except when eaten fresh from the water. The weak-fish is one of the salt-water 

 game fishes, and its pursuit is highly enjoyed by coast fishermen, on account of the 

 great numbers that can be taken in a very short time. " They usually move about in 

 schools of greater or less size, swimming pretty near the surface, and requiring a line 

 but little leaded. They like almost any kind of bait, especially clams, soft crabs, or 

 pieces of fish. These they bite with a snap, rarely condescending to nibble, and it 

 requires constant vigilance to be prepared for them, and care in hauling them in out 

 of the water, in consequence of the extreme tenderness of the mouth." This tender- 

 ness of the mouth is said to be the cause of the name weak-fish. 



The spotted weak-fish or squeteague of the soutliern coast {Cynoscion maculatus) 

 is like the common weak-fish in appearance, but is distinguished by the presence of 

 numerous conspicuous round black spots upon the back as well as the dorsal fins. On 

 account of these spots, it is very generally known in the southern states as the trout 

 or sea-trout. 



A species quite nearly related to the weak-fish is foun<l along the southern Califor- 

 nia coast, where it is sometimes called blue-fish, although of course without any refer- 

 ence to the common blue-fish of the eastern coast. Its scientific name is Cynoscioji 

 pam'jmmis. A more distant relation of the squeteagues on the western coast is a 

 species generally known in the Californian markets as the sea-bass or white sea-bass, 

 although the young are called sea-trout — the Cynoscion (Atractoscion) nobilis. 

 This species is destitute of the large teeth which arm the front of the upper jaw of 

 the preceding species, and is bluish above and everywhere dotted with black. It 

 attains a much larger size than its eastern relatives, sometimes reaching a weight of 

 sixty or seventy-five pounds, or even, but very rarely, still more; the average of those 

 brought to the markets, however, is about fifteen pounds. " It is one of the most 

 important food fishes of the coast. Its flesh is excellent, firm, and well flavored, and 

 its great size renders it a very valuable species." 



The genus Sckena is the typical one of the family, and its best-known species, 

 celebrated in history and common in the Mediterranean, is the Sckena umbra ; it is. 

 popularly known as the meagre, or maigre. Tlie species has a very wide range ; 

 it occasionally reaches the British coast, and southwardly reappears at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and, it is asserted, is also found along the coast of southern Australia. It 

 sometimes becomes six feet long or more, but of co\u-se the average is very much less. 



A sjiecies related, although not very closely, to the meagre, is a fish known along 

 the southern Atlantic and Gulf coast of the United States as the red-fish, or, as it 

 appears in the books, branded drum or beardless drum. The most characteristic feature 

 of this fish is the presence of a black spot margined with lighter on the end of the 

 tail or base of the caudal fin, between the lateral line and back. It is to the presence 

 of this spot, which is suggestive of a brand, that it owes the name of branded drurn^ 



