202 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Diagnosis. — Body rather deep, the depth contained 3 times in total length; back and 

 top of head compressed; head .75 depth of body; supplemental maxillary bone about as broad 

 as eye; lower jaw somewhat projecting; eye rather large, .66 snout; dorsal rays vn + i,38, the 

 longest spine about equal to eye; anterior soft dorsal rays somewhat elongate but less than 

 half length of eye; origin of anal fin under tenth ray of soft dorsal, the anal rays 1,21; pectorals 

 less than .5 length of head; ventrals .6 head. Color: above dull bluish-gray, below white; 

 back and sides with 5 or 6 broad black crossbands, 3 of which extend on dorsal and 2 on anal, 

 the bars becoming more indistinct with age and disappearing in largest fish; a dark oblique 

 stripe from eye to spinous dorsal; spinous dorsal black; tips of caudal white; ventrals black 

 above, pale below, (zonata, banded). 



Ranges from Cape Hatteras northward to Massachusetts, and will doubtless 

 be found well represented on the North Carolina coast when properly sought. 

 The deep, banded body enables one to recognize the species readily. The young 

 are interesting aquarium fish. This species and the next associate with sharks 

 or other large fish, and are also often found about the rudders of vessels. Attains 

 a length of 3 feet, and is an excellent food fish. 



173. SERIOLA CAROLINENSIS Holbrook. 



Rudder-fish; Shark Pilot. 



Seriola caToUnensis Holbrook, Ichthyology of South Carolina, 72, 1860; Charleston. 



Halatractus zonatus, Yarrow, 1877, 209; Beaufort. 



Seriola zonata, Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 377; Beaufort. 



Seriola zonata carolinensis, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 902; north to Cape Hatteras. 



Diagnosis. — Body slender, the depth about .21 total length; head .28 length; eye small, 

 .16 head; dorsal rays v to vii + i,36 or 37; anal rays i,19 to i,21. Color: bluish above, whitish 

 below, a greenish-yellow band extending from opercle to caudal; fins mostly greenish, the 

 ventrals whitish; young with about 6 black cross-bands which become fainter with age, the 

 bands extending on dorsal and anal fins, {carolinensis, inhabiting Carolina.) 



This species is closely related to Seriola zonata and has been regarded by 

 .recent writers as a variety of that species; it is a much more elongate form, 

 however, with smaller eye and somewhat different color, and may be recognized 

 as a distinct species until it is found to intergrade with zonata. 



The fish is found from Cape Hatteras to Texas, but is not common in North 

 Carolina. Yarrow in 1871 observed only a single specimen at Beaufort; Jordan 

 and Gilbert in 1878 and Jenkins in 1885 did not find it there; and of late it has 

 rarely been seen. The fish is not known to the Beaufort fishermen. 



174. SERIOLA LALANDI Cuvier & Valenciennes. 

 Amber-fish; Yellow- tail. 



Seriola lalaTidi Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, ix, 208, 1833; Brazil. Jordan & 

 Evermann, 1896, 903, pi. cxl, fig. 382. Linton, 1905, 363; off Cape Lookout. 



Diagnosis. — ^Depth .25 total length to fork of caudal; caudal peduncle slender, its depth 

 but little more than diameter of eye; head about equal to depth; maxillary reaching to pupil; 

 eye small, less than .5 length of snout and .16 length of head; scales in lateral series about 160; 

 dorsal rays about vi + i,34, the anterior dorsal very low, the posterior elevated in front, the 

 longest soft ray being .5 head; anal fin similar to but much smaller than second dorsal, its rays 

 1,21 to 1,24. Color: grayish or purplish golden above, whitish below; a bright bronze hori- 



