SPAROID FISHES OF AMERICA. AND EUROPE, 527 
XXXII. SPICARA. 
Spicara Rafinesque, Caratteri, etc., 1810, 51 (flecuosa = smaris). 
Smaris Cuvier, Régne Animal, ed. 1, 1817, 269 (smaris). 
Type: Spicara flexuosa=Sparus smaris L, 
Etymology: Spicara, a local name, probably from spica, a spike. 
This genus is chiefly confined to the Mediterranean and neighboring 
waters. The name Spicara has priority over the commonly used name 
Smaris. 
Two species are now recognized on the European coasts. ‘These are: 
134. SPICARA SMARIS (Linneus). (Picarel.) 
135. SPICARA ALCEDO (Risso). 
Besides these, a single species has been* doubtfully recorded from the 
West Indies—Spicara martinica, 
XXXIII. CENTRACANTHUS. 
Centracantus (by misprint) Rafinesque, Caratteri, etc., 1820, 42 (cirrus = insidiator). 
Type: Centracanthus cirrus Rafinesque= Smaris insidiator Cuv. & Val. 
Etymology: xézpov, point; dzavda, spine. 
This genus contains one species found in the Mediterranean fauna 
and another in the Indian seas. The European species has been usually 
referred to Spicara (Smaris), but the form of its dorsal and various 
minor characters sufficiently distinguish it. Its specific name cirrus 
is derived from a Sicilian name, “ cirru.” 
136. CENTRACANTHUS CIRRUS Rafinesque. Coasts of southern 
Kurope. 
* ANALYSIS OF SUPPOSED AMERICAN SPECIES OF SPICARA. 
a. [Allied to Spicara smaris, but with the body rounded, compressed, the suborbital 
narrower and more notched. Color apparently plain, a small black spot 
on thejsides, 1D) px, 1s Av ran, 9.) (Cun ge Val) soe ciee <-- - MARTINICA. 
SPICARA MARTINICA, 
Smaris martinicus Cuv. & Val., vi, 1830, 424 (Martinique). 
Habitat: West Indian fauna. 
Etymology: From Martinique. 
The type of this species, 4 inches long, is reputed to have been sent to Paris from 
Plée, in Martinique. Very likely it is the common European picarel, Spicara smaris, 
and it may have come from the coasts of France. Errors of locality are common in 
museums, and the ‘ Cabinet du Roi” has not been exempt from them, 
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