TAUTOG OR BLACKFISH 



THE tautog is one of the species of 

 parrot fishes, stockily built, hard 

 scales and harder mouth; it has a 

 long row of spines running nearly the whole 

 length of its back. The color is of a green- 

 ish-black, sometimes bluish-black, with me- 

 tallic reflections and having irregular bands 

 of a deeper hue. He is as slippery as an eel, 

 and salt-water anglers like to fish for him 

 because he is a strong and hard fighter. 

 For that reason he is not a fish young peo- 

 ple should try to handle unless well able 

 to take care of themselves. Although not 

 a large fish, only averaging two to three 

 pounds, individuals weighing ten and even 

 fourteen pounds are by no means unusual. 

 The largest tautog on record was ob- 

 tained near New York and preserved in 

 the National Museum. It weighed twenty- 

 117 



