FISHES OF NEW YORK 589 



bass may be taken in a day, and it is difficult to find a locality 

 which is free from them. Their food consists of shrimp, crabs, 

 sea worms, squid, small fishes and all other animals of suitable 

 size. The species is sluggish in its habits and resembles the tau- 

 tog in its tendency to hide in rock crevices. The sea bass breeds 

 in the summer months and the young grow rapidly. The eggs 

 Tiave been hatched artificially, and when it becomes desirable the 

 fry can be produced in vast quantities. The eggs are -jt inch in 

 <iiameter and hatch in 5 days in water at the temperature of 

 59 or 60 F. At Woods Hole Mass. they are deposited in June. 

 This is a valuable food fish, reaching a length of 18 inches 

 and the weight of 6 pounds. 



Genus dules Cuvier 

 This genus is close to P r i o n o d e s , from which it differs 

 in the possession of but six branchiostegals, and in the truncate 

 form of the caudal fin. In one species the third dorsal spine 

 3s prolonged in a whiplike spine. Three American species. 



265 Dules auriga (Cuv. & Val.) 

 Coachman- 



'Dules aurifja Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, 112, pi. 51, 

 1829, Brazil; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 34, pi. 19, fig. .54. 1842, New 

 York harbor, perhaps erroneously so ascribed, but given on the author- 

 ity of Mr Hamilton; Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, 266, 1859; Jor- 

 dan & Gilbert, Bull. 16^ U. S. Nat. Mus. 542, 1883; Jordan iS: Ever- 

 MANN. Bull. 47. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1220, 1896. 



Serranus brasiliensis Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 533, 1886. 



Serranus flaviventris Jordan & Eigenmann, Bull. TJ. S. F. C. VIII, 406, 1890. 



Body rather deep and compressed, its depth contained two 

 and four fifths times in total length without caudal, and equal 

 to the length of the head; anterior profile steep and nearly 

 straight; mouth rather small, the lower jaw projecting; pre- 

 orbital rather narrow, as broad as pupil ; eye two sevenths as 

 long as the head; snout one fourth length of head; top of head 

 naked; the frontal area large and well defined, broader than 

 long; occipital crest low and short, shorter than the frontal 

 area; teeth small, with no marked canines; length of maxillary 

 five twelfths length of head; gill rakers short and slender, nine- 



