182 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Florida Keys to Brazil; the fish is abundant about Key West, but is not known 

 from the coast north of Florida, while the so-called whirligig mullet is found from 

 Key West to Massachusetts, in salt, brackish, and fresh water. The present 

 writer is inclined to accept Dr. Bean's general conclusion in this matter, bat 

 regards it unfortunate that Querimana gyrans has not been shown to be the 

 young of the striped mullet or the silverside mullet. The chief obstacle to such 

 an identification is the difference in the number of scales in the lateral series, and 

 until this is overcome the question must be considered unsettled. 



156. MUGIL CUREMA Cuvier & Valenciennes. 

 "Silverside Mullet"; "Mullet"; White Mullet; Blue-back Mullet. 



Mugil curema Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, xi, 87, 1836; Brazil; Martinique; Cuba. 



Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 87; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 813, pi. cxxvi, 



fig. 344. Linton, 1905, 360; Beaufort. 

 Mugil hrasiliensis, Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 381; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Form similar to that of Mugil cephalus, the depth about equal to length of 

 head and contained about 4 times in total length; snout .2 length of head; interorbital space 

 .5 length of head; scales in lateral series about 38, in transverse series 12, about 22 between tip 

 of snout and origin of dorsal; soft dorsal and anal thickly scaled; dorsal rays iv + i,8, the 

 longest spine more than half length of head, the margin of soft dorsal incised; anal fin similar 

 to and opposite soft dorsal, the rays iii,9; caudal deeply forked; pectorals reaching about .75 

 distance to spinous dorsal. Color: dark greenish or bluish above, silvery on sides, white 

 beneath; no dark streaks along sides in life; two yellow blotches on side of head; a small dark 

 blotch at pectoral base; fins mostly pale, with small dark spots; caudal yellowish at base, with 

 a black margin; anal and ventrals yellowish, {curerna, a Portuguese name for this or a similar 

 fish.) 



Fig. 72. White Mullet. Mugil curerna. 



The range of the white mullet is from Cape Cod to Brazil, and also extends 

 to the west coast of America. It is an abundant species on our South Atlantic 

 coast, but is less numerous than the jumping mullet, with which it associates. 

 At Beaufort it is called "silverside mullet". The usual length is about one foot. 

 The habits of the two fish are quite similar, and much that is said of the jumping 

 mullet applies also to this species. As a general thing this fish is not distin- 

 guished by the local fishermen. 



