Miscellaneous Fishes 373 



pounds in weight, though I have seen it taken in 

 nets up to about ten pounds. Its short and 

 rounded caudal fin, with the soft portions of the 

 dorsal and anal fins, together, give the appearance 

 of three tails, hence the name triple-tail, by which 

 it is generally known. 



THE COBIA 



(Rachycentron canadus) 



Rachycentron canadus. The Cobia. Body elongate, fusiform, sub- 

 cylindrical, covered with very small, smooth, adherent scales ; 

 head 4^; depth 5$; D. VIII-I, 26; A. II, 25 ; head broad, low, 

 pikelike, the bones above appearing through the thin skin ; 

 mouth wide, nearly horizontal, the maxillary reaching front of 

 eye; both jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue with bands of 

 short, sharp teeth ; lower jaw longest ; premaxillaries not pro- 

 tractile ; preopercle unarmed ; two dorsal fins, the spines of the 

 first depressible in a groove ; soft dorsal long and low, some- 

 what falcate, similar to, and nearly opposite, the anal ; caudal 

 fin strongly forked ; no caudal keel ; no finlets ; gill-rakers short 

 and stout ; pectorals broad and falcate. 



The cobia, or sergeant-fish, is the only fish of its 

 family, Rachycentridce. It was first described by 

 Linnaeus, in 1766, from a specimen sent to him by 

 Dr. Garden from South Carolina ; it is allied to the 

 mackerel tribe, and is found in all warm seas in 

 the old and new worlds. On the Atlantic coast 

 it is common from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida, 

 but occasionally strays north to Cape Cod in the 



