138 TELEOSTEI: ACANTHOPTERI. XX. 



164. CERNA Bonaparte. GROUPERS. (Epinephelus authors, not 



of Bloch.) (Italian name for the genus.) 

 a. Second dorsal spine high, not lower than third or fourth; C. lunate. 



377. C. morio l (Cuv. and Val.) RED GROUPER. Preopercular 

 angle little salient, without enlarged teeth. Brown, clouded with 

 whitish ; lower parts flushed with orange-red ; small dark spots 

 about eye ; vertical fins broadly edged with black. Head 2^ ; depth 

 3. D. XI, 17. A. Ill, 9. Lat. 1. 106. L. 3 feet. West Indies, 

 sometimes N. to N. Y. (French, merou f) 



FAMILY LXV. LOBOTID^E. (THE FLASHERS.) 



This family is closely allied to the Serranidce, from which it dif- 

 fers chiefly in the absence of teeth on the vomer and palatines. 

 The lips are thick, the upper jaw very protractile, the lower longer, 

 and the bases of the high soft dorsal and anal thickened and scaly. 

 The single species is a large fish, found in most warm seas. 



165. LOBOTES Cuvier. (Ao/SoY^, lobed.) 



378. L. surinamensis (Bloch). FLASHER. TRIPLE-TAIL. 

 Head small, the anterior profile concave, the back elevated. 

 Blackish above, sides grayish, often blotched with yellowish. Head 

 3; depth 2. D. XII, 18. A. Ill, 11. Lat. 1. 47. L. 3 feet. 

 Tropics, frequently N. to N. Y. 



FAMILY LXVI. SPARIDJE. (THE PORGIES.) 



Body oblong or elevated, with adherent scales which are usually 

 scarcely ctenoid. Mouth various, usually terminal, the teeth of vari- 

 ous forms. Premaxillaries protractile ; maxillary for its whole length 

 slipping into a sheath formed by the edge of the preorbital ; gills and 

 gill membranes normal ; pseudobranchiae large. Preopercle serrate 

 or not ; opercle unarmed. Dorsal fin usually continuous, with 8 to 

 13 spines; anal spines 3. V. normal, usually with an enlarged scale 

 at base ; lateral line continuous, not extending on C. Air-bladder 

 present. Fishes of the warm seas, some carnivorous, others herbi- 

 vorous, the latter with very long intestines. As here understood, a 

 rather heterogeneous group of some 60 genera and nearly 500 

 species, distinguished as a whole from the Serranidce chiefly by the 

 sheathed maxillary. Probably the group needs further subdivision. 

 (o-Trapos, Sparus, ancient name.) 



a. Species carnivorous, with short intestines and few pyloric caeca; teeth not 



all incisor-like. 



b. Vomer with teeth; no incisors or molars; jaws with canines; D. con- 

 tinuous. (Lutjanince.) 



1 Numerous related species of Cerna and Epinephelm occur off our Southern Coast, 

 and come to the northern markets. For an, account of these, see Jordan & Swain, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1884. 



