SPARID^E. 217 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. SPARID/E. 



THE BIG PORGEE. 



Pagrus 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 affords great sport to 

 the salt-water angler, being, with the Sea Bass, the principal object 

 of pursuit to those who affect steamboat 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 natu- 

 ralize- them. 



The color 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 line, 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 gibbous 

 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 com- 

 pound, 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 to 

 all fishermen, especially on the Long Island shores, as the SAND 

 PORGEE, Sargus Arenosus ; and another far less common, described 

 by Cuvier and others as the RHOMBOIDAL PORGEE, Sargus Rhovi- 

 boides, which, though very similar to the Big Porgee, are clearly 

 distinct. 



