340 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



described in key), the lines of two sides united by a branch over nape; dorsal rays 111+ 27, the 

 anterior soft rays elongated but not so long as head; anal rays 25; caudal lobes produced in 

 adult. Color: in general grayish olive; 2 dark cross-bars under soft dorsal fin; small purplish 

 spots on back and purplish marks on snout; eye surrounded by a ring of blue spots and green 

 streaks; first dorsal with blue spots; second dorsal and anal yellow, with rows of light blue spo^s 

 and a green network; pectorals green, with blue base and green spots, {carolinensis , inhabiting 

 Carolina.) 



/^- "■ A 



/ 



X^ 



^^ 



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Fig. 152. Trigger-fish. Balistes carolinensis. 



A widely distributed species, very common in the West Indies and the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, sometimes carried northward in the Gulf Stream to New York 

 and Massachusetts. It attains a length of more than a foot, and at Key West, 

 where it is called turbot, it is extensively eaten. There are no published records 

 of the fish's occurrence in North Carolina, but it must have been observed on 

 many occasions and at various points. The only specimens known from state 

 waters have been taken at Beaufort — 1 in the summer of 1903; another caught 

 on a hook in August, 1905; and a third obtained at Fivers Island on October 9, 

 1905. 



Family MONACANTHIDiE. The File-fishes. 



Shore fishes of warmer regions, feeding chiefly on algse; species mostly small, 

 of no food value, the flesh bitter; similar to the trigger-fishes but having onl}^ a 

 single dorsal spine. Body much compressed, rather deep; mouth small, termi- 

 nal; incisor teeth in upper jaw in a double series; in lower jaw in a single series; 

 gill-openings mere slits; lateral line absent; scales small, spine-bearing; dorsal 

 spine barbed or smooth, sometimes a rudimentary spine behind; second dorsal 

 long, widely separated from the spine; anal similar; caudal peduncle long or 

 short, the fin broad or elongate; pectorals very short; ventrals either absent or 

 represented by a long spine surmounting the pelvic bone. Four American gen- 

 era, 2 represented in the local fauna. 



