21 



SUBORDKR ACANTHOPTERI. 



Tekocephah normally with ctenoid scales, a spinous dorsal fin, either separate, or forming the 

 anterior portion of a single dorsal ; one or more spines in front of the anal, and an articulate first 

 ventral ray. One or other of these characters olten fails, but a constant character is the absence 

 of the ductus pneumaticus, or tube connecting the swim-bladder with the gullet. 



PERCID.'E. 



This large group of typical Acanthoperous fishes, with spinous fins and highly ctenoid scales, 

 is, by some naturalists, divided into several families or sub-families, two of which, the Serra- 

 nidve and the Centrarclddce, each send to our markets a single representative, the first occasion- 

 ally, the second with tolerable regularity. 



Archoplites interruj^tus, Girard, Sacramento River Perch — This 

 species is abundant along the lower course of the Sacramento and 

 San Joaquin Rivers, and in all branches of those rivers that permeate 

 the low lands, and forms an important article of food not only to the 

 white inliabitants of the district but also to the Chinese,^ who are 

 particularly fond of it, catch it in immense numbers and forward it 

 to their countrymen along the railroad, as far as the boundary of the 

 State, or even beyond it. It is usually taken in fyke-nets, which are 

 most effective engines of destruction. It is a very good fish for the 

 table, unless taken in sloughs that, by the falling of the water, have 

 become disconnected with the river. During the winter months this 

 species was rarely brought to the markets of San Francisco, but from 

 February to Septemberit has been of constant occurrence. Although 

 usually known as the Sacramento River Perch, it is by no means 

 confined to that river and its tributaries. Professor Jordan (Bulletin, 

 United States National Museum, 10, p. 34) gives "streams of the 

 Pacific slope" as its habitat; the Museum of California Academy of 

 Science has a specimen from the Pajaro River, and Mr. Livingston 

 Stone states that it occurs in Clear Lake. This species belongs to the 

 Centrarchidic, a group wdiich includes the numerous species of " sun- 

 fishes," or " pond fishes," numbering altogether (according to Profes- 

 sor Jordan) sixteen genera and sixty species. The headquarters of 

 this family is in the Mississippi Valley, and the present is the only 

 species known in California. The SerranoidfiQh, previously alluded 

 to, is Stereolepis gigas, Ayres, more commonly called the Jew-fish. Mon- 

 terey Bay appears to be the most northern point ordinarily frequented 

 by this fish, which attains the immense weight of from four to five 

 hundred pounds, and is a most delicious food fish — superior, as I am 

 assured by those who have tasted it, to any of the rock-fishes. Very 

 rarely it has been taken in San Francisco Bay. The range of this 

 species extends to New Zealand. 



THE ROCK-COD OR ROCK-FISH. 



Under these names are included the various species of Chirus, 

 Sehastichthys, Sebastodes, Ophiodon, and Scorjjoenichthys . many of which 

 are caught within the bay, others at various points along the coast, 

 especially towards the north. 



The genera enumerated belong to the old family Tnglidse ovSeler- 

 ogenidse, the latter name meaning "mailed cheeks," and referring to 

 the extension backwards of the suborbitals and their unionwith the 

 preopercula. On account of the considerable structural differences 

 which distinguished the sections or sub-families of this large family, 

 it is now usually divided into several distinct families, and our rock- 



