1578 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



small, high up. Cheeks with small scales; interopercle naked; opercles 

 naked, except above; scales on body rather small, in abont 60 transverse 

 series, those on ventral region reduced in size; lateral line continuous, 

 abruptly decurved opposite the end of the soft dorsal. Dorsal fin long, 

 low, continuous, the spinous part much the longer, with about 16 low, 

 strong, subequal spines, each with a small cutaneous appendage at tip ;. 

 soft dorsal higher than spinous; anal similar to soft dorsal, with 3 stout, 

 graduated spines ; pectorals broad and rather short ; caudal short, trun- 

 cate, with rounded angles; the soft parts of the vertical fins with the 

 membranes somewhat scaly; ventrals conspicuously behind pectorals. 

 Branchiostegals 5. Gill rakers very short and feeble; gill membranes 

 somewhat connected, free from the isthmus. Vertebra 16 -f- 18 34. This 

 genus contains a single species, a large dull-colored Labroid, abundant 

 on the Atlantic coast of the United States. (A latinization of the ver- 

 nacular name "Tan tog," which is of Indian origin.) 



1985. TAUTOGA ONITIS (Linnaeus). 



(TAUTOG; BLACK-FISH; OYSTER FISH.) 



Head 3 to 3|; depth 2f to 3. D. XVI, 10; A. 111,8; eye 5 in head; 

 snout 3; pectoral If; ventral 2; highest dorsal spine 3; highest dorsal ray 

 If; third anal spine 3; highest anal ray 1; scales 14-60-25. Body some- 

 what deep and compressed; profile moderately steep, well rounded from 

 snout to dorsal ; maxillary reaching the vertical from anterior nostril ; 

 jaws about equal, with 2 or 3 large canines and smaller ones on the side, 

 which gradually diminish in size backward; gill rakers very short and 

 blunt, about 3 -|- 6; a patch of small scales behind eye extending down- 

 ward to middle of cheek, where there are 5 or 6 series, head and opercles 

 otherwise naked; pectorals broad and rounded, not quite reaching tips of 

 ventrals; soft dorsal higher than spinous; caudal truncate or slightly 

 rounded. Color blackish or greenish; the young usually with about 3 

 pairs of dark bars connected by reticulations; adult often nearly plain 

 blackish; chin white; eye greenish. The tautog is one of the most valu- 

 able food-fishes of the Atlantic coast. It is generally abundant within its 

 range, and its flesh is of superior quality. The largest specimen known, 

 according to Dr. Goode, had a length of about 3 feet. Atlantic coasts of 

 the United States, from New Brunswick to Charleston, South Carolina, 

 about rocks and kelp in shallow water; New Brunswick (Goode); Casco 

 Bay and Freeport, Maine (Kendall). (ortTig, a kind of plant; applica- 

 tion unexplained.) 



Labrus onitis, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 286, 1758; Ed. xn, 478,1766; type locality not 



given. 

 Labrus hiatula, LINN^US, Syst. Nat., Ed. xn, 475, 1766, Carolina (Coll. Dr. Garden) ; 



JORDAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, 396 ; note on LINNAEUS' type. 

 Labrus carolinus, BONNATERRE, Tableau Encycloped. et Method., Ichthyologie, 113, 1788, 



Carolina ; after LINNJEUS. 



Labrus blackfish, SCHOPF, Schrift der Gresellsch. Natnr. Freunde, vin, 156, 1788, New York. 

 Labrus subfuscus, WALBAUM, Artedi Piscium, 254, 1792 ; after SCHOPF. 

 Labrus tessellatus, BLOCK, Ichthyologia, pi. 291, 1792, Norway. 

 Hiatula gardeniana, LACPDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., n, 522, 1800, Carolina ; after Labrus hia- 



tula, LINNAEUS. 



