CHAPTER IV. 



THE SHEEPSHEAD. Archosargun probatoccphalus. Gill. 



The fish we now treat of is the greatest delicacy, according to 

 many, which the sea yields to man, but whether it ranks higher in 

 this respect than the Spanish mackerel or the pompano, I think is 

 very doubtful, but de gustibus there is no dispute. The flavor 

 of the sheepshead is however acknowledged by everyone to be most 

 excellent. The appearance of the fish is most peculiar. The head 

 is large and massive, and the back greatly arched at the shoulders, 

 and along the most of its length is placed a large dorsal fin, which 

 the sheepshead can raise or lower at will into a groove where it fits 

 neatly. I know of no other fish whose scientific name is a direct 

 translation of its common and local appellation (probatocephalus 

 is sheepshead turned into Greek). This coincidence is caused by the 

 marked resemblance between the front teeth of the sheepshead and the 

 landows. The tooth system of the sheepshead is remarkably well de- 

 veloped ; besides the front incisors (six or eight) there are molars pow- 

 erful enough to crack a clam-shell with ease. The color of the fish is 

 brassy bn the dorsal ridge, merging into dull silver, which gets lighter 

 as it nears the ventral line. About the body at right angles to the 

 medial line run six dusky bands ; the eye is large and gamy. The 

 dorsal fin is composed of twelve spines and twelve rays. The pec- 

 toral fins are composed each of sixteen ramose rays. The ventral 

 ray consists of one spine and five rays ; the anal fin of ten soft rays. 

 Upon each shoulder is a dark spot. Altogether, the sheepshead is 



