SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 20l 



Diagnosis. — -Depth .25 length; liead .2 length; maxillary extending beyond pupil; eye 

 slightlyless than snout, .25 head; head naked, the body covered with hnear, obliquely arranged, 

 embedded scales; dorsal rays v4-i,20; anal rays ii + i,20; caudal lobes equal, about length of 

 head; pectorals and ventrals about .66 length of head. Color: bluish on back and top of 

 head, silvery on sides and belly; iris and fins yellow, (saurus, lizard.) 



Although the leather-jacket ranges regularly from the tropics along our 

 east coast to New York, it has not heretofore been recorded from North Carolina. 

 On May 17, 1904, a Beaufort fisherman brought a 10-inch specimen to the labora- 

 tory, and reported that he had met with the fish before. The species rarely 

 exceeds a foot in length, and has no food vaue. 



Genus SERIOLA Cuvier. Amber-fishes. 



Rather large, shapely fishes, usually with a good deal of greenish-yellow on 

 body and fins, whence the name of amber-fish. They are found on the coasts of 

 America, Europe, and Asia, and in some countries are important food fishes. 

 Body rather elongate, slightly compressed, back not elevated; head conical; 

 mouth large, with bands of small teeth on jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatals; 

 premaxillaries protractile; supplemental maxillary broad; body and sides of 

 head covered with very small scales; lateral line greatly arched anteriorly, form- 

 ing a keel on side of peduncle; anterior dorsal fin low, with about 7 spines con- 

 nected by a membrane; posterior dorsal long, elevated in front; anal similar to 

 soft dorsal but smaller, preceded by 2 very small free spines (disappearing with 

 age); ventrals rather long; pectorals short. About 10 American species, 7 of 

 which occur on our east coast; 3 known from North Carolina.* 



Key to the North Carolina species of amber-fishes. 



i. Body marked by 5 or 6 broad black cross-bands, very distinct in smaller specimens, becom- 

 ing obsolete with age; size moderate. 

 a. Body rather stout, the depth .3.3 length to end of scales; length of head much less than 

 depth of body; a dark band from eye to spinous dorsal; ventrals and spinous dorsal 



black zonata. 



aa. Body slender, the depth .21 length; length of head greater than depth of body; a hori- 

 zontal yellow band from opercle to end of tail; ventral and spinous dorsal not black. 



carolinensis. 



ii. Body not marked by black cross-bands; form slender, depth of body about .25 length to 



end of scales; length of head equal to or less than depth of body; a golden stripe from eye 



to spinous dorsal; size large lalandi. 



{Seriola, an Italian name for one of the fishes of this genus.) 



172. SERIOLA ZONATA (Mitchill).t 



Rudder-fish; Shark Pilot. 



Scowber zo/ia<!<s Mitchill, Transactions Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, 427; New York 



Bay. 

 Seriola zonata, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 902, pi. c.txxix, fig. 381 ; Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. 



♦Several other amber fishes (S. fasciaia, S. rivoliana) are known from South Carolina and may be looked 

 for further north. 



tThe pilot-fish {Naucmtes ductor) was recorded from Beaufort by Yarrow on the authority of a fisher- 

 man; but no specimen has been obtained from North Carolina, and it is probable that the fish Yarrow noted 

 was the young of this species. 



