212 AMERICAN FISHES. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. SCLENID^E. 



THE BRANDED CORVINA. 



Cortina Occllata ; Cuvier. 



THIS is a beautiful species, very rare at the north, but is abundant 

 to the southward. It is as excellent as it is handsome, and my south- 

 ern readers will recognise it as the Poisson Rouge, or Red-fish, of New 

 Orleans, and as the Sea Bass or Red Bass of Charleston. Like the 

 rest of its family it is a bold biter and a vigorous fish, and is considered 

 superlative on the table. 



In color it is blue above, lighter below, with head, cheeks and 

 shoulders of a deep golden yellow, with ruddy metallic reflections. Its 

 dorsal fin is dark green. Pectorals, ventrals and anal dull red. At 

 the base of the tail it has one and sometimes two dark brown confluent 

 spots. To these its name of Branded has been ascribed by Dr. 

 Mitchil, as if the marks resembled the brand left by a heated iron. 



The body of this Corvina is more cylindrical, less compressed and 

 shallower than in any others of its family. The snout is blunt but 

 prominent. Lateral line concurrent with the dorsal outline. The 

 teeth in one band in both jaws. The preoperculum is serrated or 

 toothed along the whole margin ; the operculum terminates posteri- 

 orly in two blunt spines. 



The first dorsal fin has ten spines ; the second one spine and twenty- 

 six soft rays ; the pectorals have seventeen soft rays ; the ventrals one 

 spine and five soft rays ; the anal two spines and eight soft rays ; and 

 the caudal, which is nearly even, but slightly hollowed out in the centre, 

 has seventeen branched rays. 



It is found in the southern seas from eight inches to three feet in 

 length, and in those waters is one of the most favorite objects of pur- 

 suit to the salt-water angler. 



