SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 329 



pounds, all in Carteret County. The average price received by the fishermen 

 is 2 cents a pound. 



Genus LACHNOLAIMUS Cuvier & Valenciennes. Hog-fishes. 



Body much compressed; back elevated and compressed to a sharp edge; 

 snout sharp; profile steep; mouth terminal, horizontal, and low; premaxillary 

 mostly concealed by broad preorbital; jaw teeth prominent, canine, in a single 

 row; scales of moderate size; cheeks and opercles partly scaled; lateral line com- 

 plete; dorsal fins continuous but distinct, the first with 14 spines of which the 3 

 anterior are very long and curved backward over the other spines; soft dorsal 

 elongate; anal larger than soft dorsal, with 3 spines; caudal deeply concave, the 

 lobes filamentous; pectorals and ventrals short. The genus contains a single 

 species. (Lachnolaimus, velvet throat.) 



285. LACHNOLAIMUS MAXIMUS (Walbaum). 



Hog-fish; Capitaine. 



Labrus maximus Walbaum, Artedi Genera Piscium, 261, 1792; Bahamas (after Catesby). 

 Lachnolaimus maximus, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 1579, pi. cexxxvii, fig. 597. 



Diagnosis. — Back elevated, greatest body depth about .4 total length; head .33 length; 

 mouth large, the gape wider in male, maxillary extending to a point under middle of eye; 4 prom- 

 inent canine teeth in front of upper jaw, 2 in lower jaw with 2 small conical teeth between and 

 a row of blunt teeth on sides of each jaw; snout .4 head; eye .20 head; scales in lateral series 36 

 to 39, in transverse series 21 to 25, 6 rows of scales on cheeks, 5 rows on opercles; dorsal rays, 

 XIV, 11 or 12, the longest spines much longer than head, the longest soft rays about equal to 

 head; anal rays iii,ll, the third spine longest. Color: varying from dull red to orange red, 

 lighter below; cheeks greenish; a wavy blue line below eye; a black bar from snout to back of 

 head; a large black spot at base of soft dorsal; dorsal greenish at base, with reddish edge; anal 

 and caudal with rows of green spots; pectorals orange; ventrals reddish; in adult males the 

 vertical fins usually black at base, {maonmus, largest.) 



This hog-fish should not be confounded with the hog-fish or pig-fish, Ortho- 

 pristis, which is abundant on this coast, whereas Lachnolaimus is an exceedingly 

 rare straggler. It is a well known and abundant species in the West Indies, 

 southern Florida, and Bermuda, but does not appear to have been previously 

 noted at any point on our Atlantic coast north of Florida, and the present record 

 is based on a single young specimen 3.75 inches long seined at Beaufort in the 

 summer of 1902. The fish reaches a weight of 20 pounds and is highly esteemed 



as food. 



Genus IRIDIC Jordan & Evermann. Slippery Dicks ; Doncellas. 



A rather numerous genus of highly colored American fishes, usually found 

 among the kelp in tropical waters. Form elongate, compressed; head conic; 

 mouth small, terminal, with 2 enlarged canine teeth in front of upper jaw and 4 

 in front of lower jaw, together with a large canine tooth on each side of upper 

 jaw near angle of mouth and small intervening teeth; gill-membranes attached to 

 isthmus; gill-rakers short; preopercular margin entire; scales rather large on 

 body, none on head; lateral line abruptly decurved posteriorly; dorsal fins low, 



