90 



AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK 



WHITE PEECH. GRAY PERCH. 



Labrax pallidus : DE KAY. 



Color back, bluish gray ; sides, silvery gray ; belly, white ; 

 body compressed, elliptical ; breadth, one-third of its length ; 

 head not quite a third ; eye one-third distant from snout ; 

 opercle and preopercle scaly, a single flat spine on the 

 opercle, with a membrane extending beyond ; preopercle 

 serrated on lower margin. Branchial, and fin rays. B 6 ; 

 D 9, 1, 12 ; C 16 ; P 14 ; V 15 ; A 3, 10. Compared with 

 Labrax rufus of De Kay, this fish is of a more lustrous 

 silvery hue ; its fins longer and more transparent ; the 

 rays more delicate ; spines longer and sharper, some of the 

 dorsal spines with a sabre-like curve. The facial line is 

 more depressed, eye full, mouth larger, and bearing all the 

 marks of a game predatory fish. It is seldom found north 

 of the Delaware. 



De Kay's specific appellation "Pallidus" denotes the color, 

 and marks the difference between this and his Labrax ru/us, 

 or Ruddy Bass. I believe as he did, that the two are distinct 



