o62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEfUM 



darker vertical bands, disappearing with age; vertical fins yel- 

 lowish, with bluish stripes ; a dark axillary spot. 



This is called the salt water bream by Schoepff and the rhom- 

 boidal porgee by DeKay. In Chesapeake bay it is the fairmaid. 

 It is also called pinfish, squirrel fish, porgee, yellowtail and 

 shiner. In Great South bay the name of the fish was unknown 

 to the fishermen, and this is true in Great Egg Harbor bay, 

 where the young are not uncommon in summer. 



In Gravesend bay it is not a common fish, but is found occa- 

 sionally in summer. 



A single individual was obtained at Fire Island, October 1. 

 The sailor's choice occurs as far north as: Cape Cod, but it is not 

 present in sufficient numbers to be considered among the impor- 

 tant food fishes; south of Cape Hatteras, where it is abundant, 

 it is valuable for food, and in many places is considered supe- 

 rior to sheepshead; this is specially so in the St John's river. 



The sailor's choice feeds upon small invertebrates and min- 

 nows. It is caught with the hook and in cast nets and seines. 



The eggs are described as pale blue in color and as large as 

 mustard seed. Spawning takes place in the Gulf of Mexico in 

 winter or early spring. The colors of the fish are very beauti- 

 ful, the sides being ornamented with golden stripes on a pearly 

 white ground and having numerous dark vertical bands. 



Genus archosargus Gill 

 Body robust, short and deep, compressed, covered with large 

 scales. Head deep, mouth moderate, the jaws with broad in- 

 cisors in front and coarse molars on the sides; incisors entire or 

 with a shallow notch; posterior nostril slitlike; opercles entire. 

 Dorsal and anal spines strong, the soft parts of the fin short 

 and rounded; a procumbent spine before the dorsal; caudal 

 forked. Gill rakers small. Supraoccipital and temporal crests 

 coalescent anteriorly, both disappearing in the gibbous inter- 

 orbital area; frontal bone between eyes transversely convex and 

 more or less honeycombed; temporal crest separated from 

 occipital crest by an excavated area, bounded anteriorly by the 

 lateral crest, which merges into the supraoccipital above eye. 



