^80 sparidj:. 



THE BIG PORGEE. 



Pagriis Argyrops — Cuvier. 



This is a good and a handsome fish, and would be more valued 

 if less common. It is a bold and free biter, and aflFords great 

 sport to the salt-water angler, being, with the Sea Bass, the prin- 

 cipal object of pursuit to those who affect steam-boat excursions 

 to the fishing banks. Its geographical range is from Charleston 

 southward, to Cape Cod on the north, beyond which it has been 

 found impossible to naturalise them. 



The colour of the Porgee is a deep brownish black on the head 

 and back, with green and golden reflections, especially about the 

 neck and sides, which are silvery, with brazen gleams. A black 

 spot marks the upper corner of the gill-cover crossing the lateral 

 Hne, and there is another of the same kind at the base of the 

 pectoral fin. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are brown, the 

 ventrals bluish, the pectorals light yellow. The body of this 

 fish is much compressed, with a gibbons outline, nearly half as 

 deep as it is broad ; the face arched ; the scales are large, and the 

 lateral line corresponds with the curve of the back. 



The jaws are largely furnished, as well as the pharyngeals, 

 with alternating series of acute and paved teeth. The dorsal fin 

 is compound, with one stout and twelve feeble spines, and twelve 

 soft rays ; the pectorals are unusually long, with sixteen soft 

 rays ; the ventrals have one spine and five soft ; the anal, three 

 spines and eleven soft ; and the caudal, seventeen soft rays. 



There are two smaller fish of the same family, one well known 



