SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 279 



orange brown, olive on back; sides and belly with gray reticulations surrounding round or 

 oblong areas of ground color; reticulations on head bluish, the areas smaller; a line of 6 or 7 

 spots from eye to preopercle; dorsal and caudal mottled brown; anal with 2 or 3 rows of bluish 

 spots, tip black; pectorals olive brown; ventrals black with blue rays, (bonaci, the Cuban 

 name for this fish.) 



On the Atlantic coast north of Florida, this species is only a straggler from 

 the West Indies, although it is abundant at Key West. The writer has reported 

 it from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where it was probably carried in the Gulf 

 Stream. Three small specimens were seined in Beaufort Harbor in the summer 

 of 1902, and several others were taken there in June, 1904. The fish attains a 

 weight of 50 pounds, and is used for food. 



Genus CENTROPRISTES Cuvier & Valenciennes. Sea Basses. 



Bottom marine fishes, peculiar to the Atlantic coast of America, with robust, 

 slightly compressed body, very large mouth, no supplemental bone, smooth 

 tongue, weak canine teeth, serrate preopercle, long and slender gill-rakers, short 

 dorsal fin, fleshy filaments on tips of dorsal spines, 3-lobed or double concave 

 caudal, ventrals close together and in advance of pectorals. Of the 3 authentic 

 species, 2 occur on the North Carolina coast and may be readily distinguished as 

 follows: 



i. Tips of dorsal spines with short fleshy flaps; gill-rakers on lower arm 18; caudal fin rounded, 



with a produced ray at upper angle; color black or dark blue striatus. 



ii. Tips of dorsal spines with long hair-like processes; giU-rakers on lower arm 10; caudal fin 

 deeply double-concave, with central and marginal rays much produced; color, greenish 

 above, with ,dark cross-bars phUadelphicus. 



{Centro-pristes, spine-saw.) 



245. OENTROPBISTES STRIATUS (Linnaeus). 

 "Black-fish"; "Bass"; Sea Bass; Black WiU (Va.). 



Labrus atriatua Linnseus, Systema Naturae, ed. x, 285, 1758; "America" 



Perca atraria Linnseus, Systema Naturae, ed. xii, 485, 1766; Carolina. 



Centropristis atrariua. Yarrow, 1877, 211; off Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 



380; Beaufort. 

 Senanus atrarius, Jordan, 1886, 27; Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 89; Beaufort. Wilson, 1900, 355; Beaufort. 

 Centropristes atriatus, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 1199, pi. cxc, fig. 500. Linton, 1905, 375; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Form robust, back elevated, depth rather more than .33 total length; head 

 large, thick, its length about equal to body depth; mouth oblique, lower jaw longer, maxillary 

 broad, less than .5 length of head; jaw teethinbroad bands, canines small; eye .2 length of head; 

 gill-rakers long, 18 below angle; preopercle finely serrate, angle and lower edge with larger 

 teeth; scales in lateral series 55 to 60, in transverse series 20 to 25, 11 rows of scales on cheeks; 

 dorsal rays x,ll, the spines strong, longest .5 length of head; short dermal flaps on some of 

 the spines; anal rays iii,7 or iii,8; pectorals very long, contained 1.25 times in length of head; 

 ventrals a little shorter; upper caudal ray produced. Color: dark brown, black, or rich blue, 

 more or less mottled and with pale longitudinal streaks; dorsal with lines of white spots, other 

 fins dark. Male in breeding season develops a large nuchal or frontal iump and assumes a 

 bright blue color; fins in male larger, {striatum, striped.) 



The sea bass, known in North Carolina as "black-fish" and "bass", is a 

 northern species the southern limit of whose range is Florida. It is one of the 



