SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 



295 



following characters: Body usually compressed and rather deep; head large, 

 with prominent ridges on skull; mouth small, terminal, and low, with strong 

 teeth in jaws, no teeth on vomer and palatines; maxillary short, overlapped 

 by a broad preorbital, no supplemental bone; gill-membranes not united, free 

 from isthmus; preopercle little if at all serrate; no spines on opercle; scales on 

 bodylarge, adherent, head more or less scaly; lateral line prominent, concurrent 

 with back; dorsal fin long and continuous, spines strong and usually fitting 

 in a groove when flexed; anal fin about Jength of soft part of dorsal, with 

 3 spines; caudal fin forked or deeply concave; air bladder present. Of the 

 7 genera represented on the eastern coast of the United States, 6, with 7 

 species, are known from North Carolina. Two of the local sparids are among the 

 best known food-fishes of the Atlantic coast. The common porgy of southern 

 Europe {Pagrus pagriis), known also from Charleston, S. C, to Uruguay, may 

 be looked for on the lower part of the North Carolina coast. 



Key to the North Carolina genera of sparids. 



i. Bone (interhemal) supporting second anal spine large, partly hoUow, and receiving posterior 

 end of swim-bladder; teeth in front ot jaws either narrow incisors or canines. 

 a. Front teeth very narrow incisors; first dorsal spine rudimentary and directed forward. 

 6. Anterior dorsal spines not noticeably long, the third one-half to two-thirds length of 



head Stbnotomus. 



66. Anterior dorsal spines very long and filamentovis, the third longer than head. Otrynter. 

 aa. Front teeth canine; first dorsal spine not rudimentary and not directed forward. 



Calamus. 

 ii. Bone supporting second anal spine normal; teeth in front of jaws broad incisors, 

 c. Body marked by dark cross bands. 



d. Incisor teeth deeply notched; size small Lagodon. 



dd. Incisor teeth entire or slightly notched; size large Aechosaegus. 



cc- No dark cross-bands; black blotch on caudal peduncle Diplodtjs. 



Genus STENOTOMUS Gill. Scuppaugs. 



Small fishes of our Atlantic coast, very abundant and furnishing much food 

 in the New England and Middle States. The Indian name "scuppaug" has 

 been corrupted into "scup" and "porgy", by which names these fishes are 

 generally known. Body rather deep; back elevated; head pointed; incisor 

 teeth long and flat; eye small and placed high; gill-rakers small, about 16 on 

 first arch; top of head, snout, and orbital region naked, opercle and cheek 

 scaly; dorsal spines 12, the first less than half length of second and the longest 

 much shorter than head; antrorse dorsal spine attached to interneural bone by 

 a long process. The 2 known species, both found in North Carolina, are very 

 similar but may be distinguished by following characters: 



i. Body with about same depth from first to tenth dorsal spines; depth more than half length 



of body; head . 28 length of body; snout less than . 5 length of head chrysops. 



ii. Depth of body decreasing rapidly backward from anterior dorsal spines; depth less than 

 half length of body; head .33 length of body; snout .5 length of head acideatus. 



{Stenotomus, narrow cutting, in reference to the incisor teeth.) 



