90 



AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



WHITE PEECH. GEAY PERCH. 



Labrax pallidus : De Kay. 



Color — back, bluish gray; sides, silvery gray ; belly, wbite ; 

 body compressed, elliptical ; breadth, one-third of its length ; 

 head not quite a third ; eye one-third distant from snout ; 

 opercle and preopercle scaly, a single flat spine on the 

 opercle, with a membrane extending beyond ; preopercle 

 serrated on lower margin. Branchial, and fin rays. B 6 ; 

 D 9, 1, 12 ; C 16 ; P 14 ; V 15 ; A3, 10. Compared with 

 Lahrax rufus of De Kay, this fish is of a more lustrous 

 silvery hue ; its fins longer and more transparent ; the 

 rays more delicate ; spines longer and sharper, some of the 

 dorsal spines with a sabre-like curve. The facial line is 

 more depressed, eye full, mouth larger, and bearing all the 

 marks of a game predatory fish. It is seldom found north 

 of the Delaware. 



De Kay's specific appellation "Pallidus''' denotes the color, 

 and marks the difference between this and his Lahrax rufus, 

 or Ruddy Bass. I believe as he did, that the two are distinct 



