Jordan and Evcrmann. Fishes of North America. 1577 

 1984. TAI:TO<;OLABIU:S ADSPERSUS (Waibaum). 



(Ct'NNKR; ClHXiSET; BLUE PEKCH ; BERGALL; BERQ-GYLT.) 



Head 3^ to 3i; depth 3 to 3. D. XVIII, 10; A. Ill, 9; scales 6-46-12; 

 vertebra' 17 + 19 30; c.vo-l.l in bead; pectoral 2; highest dorsal spine 

 2$ ; highest dorsal rays 2; third anal spine 2L Body rather robust; head 

 moderately pointed, much less obtuse than in Tautoya ; snout moderate, 

 longer than eye; month moderate, maxillary about reaching front of eye; 

 5 canines in front of upper jaw, about 4 in lower, the teeth on sides of jaw 

 enlarging anteriorly ; bands of small concave teeth behind canines; gill 

 rakers Aery short, about 6-j-ll; scales rather small; top of h,ead, preor- 

 bital, maxillary , lower jaw, interopercle, and posterior edge of preopercle 

 and operele naked; preopercle with about 5 rows of small scales; opercle 

 with 4 or 5 rows of larger ones; iins naked. Color livid blue, shaded with 

 brownish above and with more or less of a brassy luster on sides; head 

 and back sometimes spotted with brassy; young with darker blotches and 

 markings, and often a black blotch near middle of dorsal fin. Extremely 

 variable in shades of coloration. This little fish is exceedingly abundant 

 about rocks and wharves near shore in the regions where it is found. It 

 reaches a length of about 10 inches, being too small to have much value 

 as food, although its llesh is of excellent ilavor. These fishes, although 

 performing a useful duty as scavengers, are a pest to the fishermen from 

 their habit of nibbling the bait from their hooks. Atlantic coasts of 

 North America, from Labrador to Sandy Hook, (adspersus, besprinkled.) 



Burgall, SCHOPF, Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde, vm, 155, 1788, New York. 



Labrus ads-persus, WALBAUM, Artecli Piscium, 254, 1792; after Burgall of SCHOPF. 



Tautoga niger, MITCHILL, Report, in part, on the Fishes of New York, 23, 1814, New York. 



Tautoga ccerulea, MITCHILL, Report, in part, Fishes of New York, 24, 1814, New York. 



Labri's chogset, MiTCHlLL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y., 1, 1815, 402, pi. 3, f.2, New York. 



Labrus chogsetfulva, MITCHILL. I. c., 403, 1815, New York. 



Ctenlabrus uninotatus, CUVIHR & VALENCIENNES, Hist, Nat. Poiss., xm, 239, 1839, New 

 York ; young ; DE KAY, New York Fauna : Fishes, 174, pi. 29, f. 90, 1842 ; GUNTHER, 

 Cat., iv, 90, 1862. 



Ctenolabrus burgatt, GUNTHER, Cat., iv, 90, 1862, Canada. 



Ctenolabrus chogset, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xm, 237, 1839. 



Ctenolabrus cceruleus, DE KAY, New York Fauna : Fishes, 172, pi. 29, f. 93, 1842. 



Tautogolabrus adspersus, BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat, Mus. 1880, 87. 



Ctenolabrus adspersus, STEARNS, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 123 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Syn- 

 opsis, 599, 1883; GOODE, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 273, 1884; JORDAN, Review Labroid 

 Fishes, 023, 1890. 



629. TAUTOGA, Mitchill. 



(TAUTOGS.) 



Hiatula, LAOEFKDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., n, 522, 1800 (hiatula) ; name preoccupied by Hiatula, 



Modeer, 1793, a genus of Mollusks. 

 Tautoga, MITCHILL, Report, in part, Fish. New York, 23, 1814 (tautoga). 



Body long, not elevated nor greatly compressed. Head large, nearly as 



deep as long, with a convex profile. Month rather small. Teeth very 



strong, conical, in 2 series; the outer somewhat incisor-like; the 2 anterior 



teeth in each jaw strong; the posterior teeth small, without canines. Eye 



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