THE OUATALIBI, OR RUDDY SERRANUS. 



233 



found on the Atlantic shores of tropical America. Many specimens are in the British 

 Museum, some of which were taken in the West Indies, others off the coast of Guiana, 

 some from Bahia, and others from Surinam. The general color of the American Pike 

 is silvery white, tinged on the back with green, and becoming a pure shining white on 



AMERICAN PlKE.-Centropotnu* undecimatls. 



the abdomen. The dorsal fins are two in number, the first being shortish, and having 

 eight very strong and sharp spines. The second spine of the anal fin is very long and 

 sharp, and the prseoperculum is armed with two sharply toothed edges. 



THE well-known BLACK BASSE of America (Centropristis atrarius) inhabits the rivers 

 and lakes of North America. 



This fine fish is a really valuable species, on account of its large dimensions and the 

 excellence of its flesh, and the attention of scientific men has lately been turned to- 

 wards its preservation. In the Patent Reports of 1859 upon some Black Basse that were 

 transferred to Waramang Lake, Connecticut, in 1853, it is said that they multiplied 

 very rapidly, grew at the average rate of one pound per annum, and ordinarily attained 

 a weight of five pounds or a little more. They are very hardy, and can be taken from 

 one locality to another if placed in a tub of water covered with a wet canvas. So 

 rapid, indeed, is its increase, that although less than a hundred were originally placed 

 in the lake, they have probably increased to several millions in a space of seven years. 



It is a marvellously bold-biting fish, and affords good sport to all anglers, whether 

 they only fish for the sake of the amusement, using a fly or other delicate bait, or whether 

 they merely seek to take their prey as a matter of business, and employ small fish as a 

 bait, or the obstruction " spoon," whose treacherous glitter the Black Basse is seldom 

 able to withstand. It is an active and powerful fish, and when hooked struggles so long 

 and so fiercely, that it tests all the angler's skill before it can be safely landed. 



The color of the Black Basse is brown, washed with golden green, and mottled with 

 dark spots on the centre of each scale, darker on the back, and becoming nearly white 

 on the abdomen. When newly caught, the body is traversed with several dark bands. 

 It is a very fine fish, specimens having been known to weigh nearly twenty pounds. 



CLOSELY allied to these fish is an enormous genus, containing about one hundred 

 and forty known species, from which the OUATALIBI, or RUDDY SERRANUS (Serrdniis 

 ouatalibi), is selected as an example. 



