Common Wcakfish ; Squeteague ; Sea-trout 



b. Soft portions of dorsal and anal more or less closely scaled. 



c. Colour, nearly uniform silvery nothus, 459 



cc. Colour, brownish silvery above, with many dark brown spots ar- 

 ranged in undulating streaks regalis, 456 



bb. Soft portions of dorsal and anal scaleless. 



d. Colour, not uniform; grayish or silvery, the back with distinct 



darker spots, lines, or reticulations. 



e. Soft dorsal without spots reticulatus, 459 



ee. Soft dorsal with conspicuous round black spots . . . .nebulosus, 457 

 dd. Colour, nearly uniform, bluish gray above, silvery below. 



/. Caudal fin somewhat lunate in adult, the middle rays shortest, but 

 somewhat produced in the young parvipinnis, 460 



ff. Caudal fin always double-truncate or double-concave, the middle 

 rays somewhat produced macdonaldi, 460 



aa. Scales comparatively small, the lateral line with 70 to 90 pores, the 

 number of scales 85 to 1 50 nobilis, 458 



Common Weakfish; Squeteague; Sea-trout 



Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider) 



The squeteague is found throughout the entire length of our 

 Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and ranges as far north as the Bay of Fundy. 

 It has varied greatly in abundance within the last hundred years, but 

 is always one of our commonest and best-known fishes. At certain 

 times and places it is exceedingly abundant. A catch of over 200,000 

 pounds in one day in 1881 two miles off Rockaway Beach is on record. 

 It is rare in the Gulf of Mexico, but from Florida to Long Island it is 

 usually abundant. 



Although essentially a coast and still-water fish, the squeteague 

 sometimes runs up tidal waters and prefers the vicinity of river- 



436 



