220 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Genus RACHYCENTRON Kaup. Crab-eaters. 



The peculiarities of this genus are indicated in the family definition. One 

 species, of wide distribution, superficially resembling the common remora. 

 {Rachycentron, spiny back.) 



189. RACHYCENTRON CANADUS (Linnaeus). 



"Cabio"; Crab-eater; Sergeant-fish. 



Gasterosteus canadus Linntpus, Systema Naturae, ed. xii, 491, 1766; Carolina. 



Elacate Canada, Yarrow, 1877, 212; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1885, 11; Beaufort. Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. 



Jenkins, 1887, 88; Beaufort. 

 Rachycentron canadus, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 948, pi. cxlviii, fig. 401. Linton, 1905, 370; Beaufort, 



Diagnosis. — Depth contained 5.6 times in length; head contained 4.25 times in length; 

 lateral line wavy, nearly parallel with back, descending posteriorly; dorsal rays viii + i,26; 

 anal rays ii,25; caudal deeply concave, upper lobe longer; pectorals broad and pointed. Color: 

 dark brown on back, silvery white below; a dark lateral band, about width of eye, extending 

 from snout to tail; below this a narrower dark band, {canadus, Canada, where the species does 

 not occur.) 



Fig. 93. Crab-eater. Rachycentron canadus. 



In summer this species is found on the middle and south Atlantic coast of 

 the United States, being especially common in Chesapeake Bay, where it is a 

 food fish of some importance under the name "bonito"; in winter it withdraws to 

 the West Indies. It also occurs in the East Indies. Dr. Yarrow inserted this 

 species in his Beaufort list but does not mention having seen an example; there 

 is, however, a specimen in the National Museum obtained at Beaufort by Dr. 

 Yarrow, and there is a second specimen forwarded from Fort Macon by Dr. 

 Weyrich in 1872. Drs. Jordan and Gilbert failed to find it and omitted it 

 altogether from their list. Dr. Jenkins, however, found it in 1885. Dr. Coker 

 reports that when the large seines were used in the Cape Lookout fisheries, crab- 

 eaters were often taken, some of them weighing 40 to 50 pounds; they were 

 shipped chiefly to the state markets, where they brought a fair price, sometimes 

 being sold as cero. The fish was found occasionally in the Beaufort market in 

 1901, and a number of specimens were collected for the laboratory in the summer 

 of 1903, one on an oyster reef in the harbor, another, 10 inches long, on 

 Bird Shoal. The regular name for the fish at Beaufort is "cabio", allied to 

 the Bermuda name "cubby-yew"; the book name "cobia" is possibly a mis- 

 print. 



