448 " NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



a distance of half a mile, I saw 51 round herring lying on the 

 beach, having been chased in a short time previously by bluefish. 

 When the fishermen find the round herring on the shore, they 

 know that bluefish are present. Small bluefish were caught in 

 a trap at Islip Oct. 1, 1890. In the summer of 1898 young blue- 

 fish were abundant in all the waters visited in Peconic bay and 

 Great South bay and were taken as late as October 16. 



During the warm season they often run up the rivers, the 

 young, called snappers, frequently into nearly fresh waters. 

 (After Eugene Smith^) 



The bluefish is so active in its movements that it is difficult to 

 keep it in captivity. As with the species of O a r a n x and 

 Seriola, however, its longevity depends on range and tem- 

 perature; in a large body of water, not colder than 60° in winter, 

 it can be maintained easily. 



Family RJ^^^CPiYCENTRIDA^E ^ 



Sergeant Fishes 

 Genus rachycentron Kaup 

 Body elongate, fusiform, subcylindric, covered with very small, 

 smooth, adherent scales; lateral line nearly parallel with the 

 back; head rather broad, low, pikelike, the bones above appear- 

 ing through the thin skin; mouth rather wide, nearly horizontal, 

 the maxillary about reaching front of eye; 'both jaws, vomer, 

 palatines and tongue with bands of short, sharp teeth, lower jaw 

 longest; premaxillaries not protractile; preopercle unarmed; 

 first dorsal represented by about eight low, stout, equal, free 

 spines, each depressible in a groove; soft dorsal long and rather 

 low, somewhat falcate, similar to and nearly opposite anal; two 

 weak anal spines, one of them free from the fin; pectorals mod- 

 erate, placed low; ventrals thoracic, I, 5; caudal fin strong, 

 forked, on a moderate peduncle; no caudal keel; no finlets; gill 

 rakers rather short, stout; no air bladder; branchiostegals seven; 

 pyloric caeca branched; vertebrae 12+13=25. Probably only one 

 species; a large, strong, voracious shore fish, found in all warm 

 seas. Its relations are with the scombroid fishes, though not 



^Linn. Soc. N. Y. Proc. 1897. no. 9, p. 32. 



