SALT-WATER FISH AND FISHING. 289 



SPOT, PIGFISH, OB GOODY. 



Leiostomus obliquus : CUVIER. 



Body compressed, oval ; back arched anteriorly ; belly 

 straight to first ray of the anal fin ; head large. Color : back 

 gray, shading to a yellowish-bronze at the lateral line ; sides 

 brownish-yellow ; belly light yellow. There are twelve or 

 more oblique bars extending from the top of the back to a 

 small distance below the lateral line, which is concurrent 

 with the back. It has a distinct dark-brown spot above the 

 posterior point of the opercle. Fins : first dorsal, ten spines ; 

 second dorsal, one short spine and twenty-nine or thirty soft 

 rays; pectorals, eighteen; ventrals,one spine and four branched 

 rays ; anal, two spines and twelve rays ; caudal, eighteen. 

 The mouth is small ; the upper jaw is set with small, obtuse, 

 conical teeth ; so also are the pharyngeal bones. 



De Kay gives this fish the local name of "Lafayette Fish," 

 from its having first been found in the waters about New 

 York, at the time of General Lafayette's visit to America. 

 Holbrook, in his Ichthyology of South Carolina, calls it by 

 the common name of Chub, which of course will strike any 

 fresh -water angler as a misnomer. The most common name 

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