SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 323 



The whiting is of exceptionally good quality. In New York there is steady 

 but limited demand for it, and only there does it command a fancy price; but 

 while it has been known to bring 75 cents a pound, the market is easil}- over- 

 stocked, and frequently only 3 cents a pound is obtained. It is not uncommon 

 for the price to drop from 30 cents a pound one day to 5 cents a pound the next. 

 Dr. Coker gives this account of the whiting fishery at Beaufort : 



King-fish are caught in small numbers when fishing with hook and line for gray trout, and 

 are taken more abundantly in the drag nets; but the most remunerative method is with the 

 sink net, employed near Cape Lookout. A gill net of 1.37-inch bar and 75 to 100 yards in 

 length, or shorter, is weighted and lowered to the bottom with its ends buoyed. Tlie next 

 morning the net is taken up, sometimes with a king-fish seemingly in every mesh. It is 

 remarkable that tliousands of king-fish may be caught, and not a single other fish; but some- 

 times, instead, gray trout are taken or immense hauls of croakers. Occasionally the weight 

 of the fish taken is so great that it is necessary to cut the net in pieces to get it in. It is stated 

 that in the last few years this fishery has not been so successful. 



278. MENTICIRRHUS SAXATILIS (Bloch & Schneider). 

 "Sea Mullet"; Sea-mink"; "King-fish"; "Whiting"; Barb; Hake 



Johnius sazatilis Bloch & Schneider, Systema Ichthyologiae, 75, 1801; New York. 

 Menlicimis nebulosus. Yarrow, 1877, 210; Beaufort. Goode, 1884, 375; North Carolina. 

 Menticirrhus saxatilis, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 1475. 



Diagnosis. — Depth contained about 4.5 times in length; head contained 3.75 to 4 times 

 in length; mouth large, maxillary extending to pupil; snout long, more than .25 length of head; 

 eye small, .14 length of head and .4 length of snout; scales in lateral series 53; dorsal rays 

 x+ 1,26 (or 27); anal rays i,8. Color: dusky above, with distinct, irregular, oblique, blackish 

 bands extending downward and forward on back and sides; pale below, bounded by a dark 

 lateral streak extending to lower caudal lobe; pectorals dark; entii'e body except abdomen 

 sometimes black, (saxatilis, pertaining to rocks.) 



Although this fish ranges from Massachusetts as far south as western Florida, 

 it is most common north of Chesapeake Bay. This is the species to which the 

 name "king-fish" properly belongs. In North Carolina it is not usually dis- 

 tinguished from Menticirrhus americanus and bears the same names, and, accord- 

 ing to Goode, it is also called "sea mink" there. A weight of 2 pounds is attained. 

 Spawning takes place in June in southern Massachusetts; by October, when they 

 have withdrawn from those waters, the young have attained a length of 4 or 5 

 inches; many of the young and half-grown fish are almost jet black, while others 

 exhibit the normal markings of the adult. 



The king-fish is one of the choicest food fishes of our east coast, and is espe- 

 cially esteemed in New York and New Jersey. In North Carolina, it is sent to 

 market with the preceding species, and the two, as has been stated, bring a good 

 price. 



279. MENTICIRRHUS LITTORALIS (Holbrook). 

 "Sea Mullet"; "Whiting"; Surf Whiting; Silver Whiting. 



Umbrina Httoralis Holbrook, Ichthyology of South Carolina, 1st ed., 142, pi. 20, fig. 1, 1856; South Carolina. 

 Menticirrus httoralis, Yarrow, 1877, 210; Beaufort. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 378; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 

 90; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann. 1898, 1477; North CaroUna to Texas. 



