148 AMERICAN FISHES. 
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THE FLASHER. 
The ‘‘Flasher’’ or ‘‘ Triple-tail’’ of New York, Lodotes surinamensis, 
known in South Carolina as the ‘‘ Black Perch,’’ and to the fishermen of St. 
John’s River as the ‘‘Grouper,’’ is spoken of by various authors as the 
«‘ Black Triple-tail,’’ and in 1856, according to Gill, was called in New 
York market the ‘‘ Flasher.’’ Itis remarkable on account of its extraordi- 
narily wide range, having been found in China, the Malay Archipelago, at 
Sunda and Molucca, in the Bay of Bengal, and in the Mediterranean 
about Sicily, at Ceylon, in the West Indies about Cuba and Jamaica, on 
the coast of South America, and in Surinam, whence the first specimen was 
derived, and from which locality the species takes its scientific name, and 
along the coast of the United States from St. John’s River to Woods Holl, 
Mass. The Triple-tail is a short, thick, heavily built fish. The dorsal 
and anal fins project backwards towards the base of the caudal so promi- 
nently as to give origin to the common name. When alive it is a very 
beautiful species, silvery and grey in color, but after death it soon becomes 
dingy—so dingy, in fact, that many of the common names are prefixed by 
the adjective ‘‘black.’’ I saw four specimens at Jacksonville, Fla., on 
the 5th of April, 1875. The largest weighed about ten pounds and 
measured nearly two feet in length. The species is abundant about 
Charleston, where, according to Holbrook, it appears in June and remains 
until September. It feeds upon small fishes and mussels, and is said to 
take the hook readily when baited with clams or with shrimps. It is 
