370 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [28] 



This species is not rare about Mazatlan. The specific name (gavBoS; 

 ov\ov) is intended to allude to the yellow color of its lips and gums. It 

 is closely related to Gestreus albus, a species which seems to replace it 

 farther south. 



17. CESTREUS ALBUS. 



Otoliihus albus Giinther, Froc. Zool. Soc. Lontl., 1864, 149 (Chiapam; Pauama). Giin- 

 ther, Fishes Central America, 387 and 429, 1869 (Chiapam). Steimlachner, 

 Neue u. Seltene Fische k. k. Zool. Mus. Wien, 36, 1879 (Panama). 

 Cynoscion album Jordan & Gilbert, Ball. U. S. Fish. Com., 1831, 319 (Panama). 

 Habitat— Pacific coast of tropical America ; Panama. 

 This species is not rare at Pauama. Like the others of the genus, it 

 is a food-fish of importance. Specimens from Panama are in the museum 

 at Cambridge. 



18. CESTREUS STOLZMANNI. 



Otoliihus siolzmanni Stcindaekner, Neue u. Seltene Fische k. k. Zool. Mus. "Wien, 



1879, 35, plate ii, fig. 1 (Tumhez, Peru). 

 Cynoscion stolzmanni Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish. Com., 1881, 320 (Panama). 



Habitat. — Pacific coast of tropical America ,; Panama to Peru. 



This species is not rare about Panama, where specimens were obtained 

 by Professor Gilbert. A specimen collected by Prof. Alexander Agas- 

 siz, at Panama, is in the museum at Cambridge. 



19. CESTREUS NOBILIS. 



(The "White Sea Bass'' of California.) 



Joknius nobilis Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1860, 78 (San Francisco). 



Airactoscion nobilis Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 17 (name only). Jordan 

 & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1881, 48 (San Francisco southward). Jor- 

 dan & Gilbert, Syn. Fish. North Am., 579 and 933, 1882. 



Cynoscion nobilis Jordan & Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus , 1880, 456 (San Francisco, 

 Monterey Bay, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, San Diego). Jordan & Gilbert, 

 Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 1881, 320 (copied). Rosa Smith, West American 

 Scientist, 1885, 47 (San Diego). 



Otolithus californiensis Steiudachner, Ichthyol. Beitr., iii, 31, 1875 (Lower California). 



Habitat. — Coast of California, north to San Francisco. 



This species is one of the largest in size of the Scicenoid lishes, reach- 

 ino" a weight of GO to 70 pounds. Its flesh is more firm than that of 

 most of the other species of Cestreus, but its quality is scarcely less 

 delicate than that of the weak-fish. 



The young fishes are somewhat different in color from the adult, being 

 marked by two or three distinct dusky cross-bars on the back and sides. 

 These yonug fishes are often taken by fishermen to be a distinct species, 

 and called sea-trout. Such specimens have been described by Dr. 

 Steiudachner under the name of Otolithus californiensis. Typical exam- 

 ples of this nominal species, from San Diego, are in the museum at Cam- 

 bridge. 



