Common Mullet; Striped Mullet 



in the Havana market where it is called lebrancho. It is the 

 most abundant mullet seen in the market at San Juan, Porto 

 Rico, and is perhaps the most common species about that island. 

 It reaches a length of 18 inches and is an excellent and im- 

 portant food-fish, the flesh being white and flaky and of delicious 

 flavour. 



Head 4; depth 4^; D. IV-I, 8; A. Ill, 8; scales 35,- 12. 

 Body more slender than in any other American species; snout 

 broad and bluntish, the upper profile almost straight and horizon- 

 tal; interorbital space greatly convex, its width 2 in head; pre- 

 orbital large, almost covering maxillary; eye hidden anteriorly and 

 posteriorly by a broad adipose membrane; teeth very minute; 

 scales large, especially on top of head, about 21 between origin 

 of dorsal and tip of snout; soft dorsal and anal almost naked; 

 margin of soft dorsal very concave; anal similar to soft dorsal, 

 but slightly less concave; caudal deeply forked. Colour, dusky 

 above, silvery below; a dusky streak along each row of scales, 

 these streaks not so wide as in M. cephalus', scales on sides 

 and opercles with dark punctulations; ventrals pale yellowish, 

 the fins otherwise dusky. 



Common Mullet ; Striped Mullet 



Mugil cephalus Linnaeus 



The common mullet is a fish of very wide distribution, 

 occurring on the "coasts of southern Europe and northern Africa, 

 on the Atlantic Coast of America from Cape Cod to Brazil, and 

 on our Pacific Coast from Monterey to Chile. It goes in great 

 schools and is everywhere abundant in bays, lagoons, and all 

 sheltered waters. It reaches a length of about 2 feet and is a 



