FISHES. 249 



unfortunate names, for the former has long been in use for the JRoccus lineatus, other- 

 wise known as striped bass ; and the latter is employed for cod caught on rocky 

 bottoms, and is inapplicable to the Scorpsenids, because they are entirely unlike the 

 cod. Garrupa, the parent name of grouper, is also given to some species, likewise 

 unfortunately, for the fishes best known by those names are Serranids : but, worst of 

 all, several species are called black-bass, and may thus be confounded with the entirely 

 unlike famed fresh-water fishes to which the name originally was applied. A few of 

 the Californian species are so prominent as to deserve notice. The genus which has 

 given a name to the family, Scorpmna, is represented by one species, tlie S. guttata. 

 This is known as the scorpene, scorpion, and sculpin. " It is found only from Point 

 Conception southward to Ascension Island." As a food fish, Prof. Jordan thinks 

 "it ranks with the best, being superior to the species of Sebastichthys, and it always 

 is in good demand where known." It is to the genus Sebastichthys that almost all of 

 the Californian Scorpsenids belong. The red rock-fish {S. ruber), it is said, " probably 

 reaches a larger size than any other species, attaining a weight of twelve or more 

 pounds," and in the markets of San Francisco is one of the most common fishes. 

 The brown rock-fish {S. auriculatus) is exceptional in living in shallow water, " enter- 

 ing all the bays, and being taken with a hook from all the wharves." It attains a 

 weight of three or four pounds, but, " as a food fish, it is held in lower esteem than 

 most of the others." One sj)ecies is so different from all the others in its longer form, 

 smaller scales, and very projecting lower jaw, that it is placed in a different genus — 

 Sebastodes. It is the S. paucispinis, and is the jack of the American fishermen, the 

 boccacio of the Italians, and merou of the Portuguese, about San Francisco. It grows 

 to a large size, — twelve to fifteen pounds, — and its flesh is considered excellent. It 

 is said to be the most voracious of its family, and the Italian nanie, boccacio, meaning 

 big-mouth, refei-s to its capacity for ingestion of prey. 



The Sebastes marinus and aS". viviparus are the only North Atlantic species of the 

 family, and are so nearly alike that they are by many considered to be the same. As 

 understood by others, however, the S. marinus is a large red fish living in deep water, 

 while the 8. viviparus is a small, banded species, frequenting shallow water. The 

 S. marinus is variously known as the rose-fish, red-fish, red-perch, !N"orway haddock, 

 John Dory, etc. The supply for the eastern markets is mostly restricted to those of 

 Massachusetts. 



In the next family which we need consider — the Cottid^ — a decided step in 

 the path of eccentricity is taken, and the extreme forms are very unlike the ordinary 

 fishes. The body is rather elongated, and generally stoutest at the shoulders and 

 graduated backwards; true scales are usually absent, rarely present in longitudinal 

 bands, less rarely represented by plates or bucklers along the lateral line, and some- 

 times replaced by prickles over the body ; the head is generally broad and the cheeks 

 tumid, the crown spiniferous, and the preoperculum and operculum usually armed with 

 spines ; a distinct anterior short dorsal, with approximated spines is the rule ; the 

 second dorsal and anal are larger, and the latter spineless ; the pectorals have very 

 procurrent bases, and the ventrals are generally imperfect, that is, provided with less 

 than five rays, or rarely absent. The species are quite numerous, mostly confined to 

 the cold seas of the northern hemisphere, and especially well represented by diverse 

 types along the western American coast. The least aberrant of the family appear to 

 be the genera Semilepidotus and ScorpcBnichthys, both of which are confined to the 

 north Pacific. 



