SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OP FISHES. 329 



pounds, all in Carteret County. The average price received by the fishermen 

 is 2 cents a pound. 



Genus LACHNOLAIMUS Cuvier & Valenciennes. Hog-fishes. 



Body much compressed; back elevated and compressed to a sharp edge; 

 snout sharp; profile steep; mouth terminal, horizontal, and low; premaxillary 

 mostly concealed by broad preorbital; jaw teeth prominent, canine, in a single 

 row; scales of moderate size; cheeks and opercles partly scaled; lateral line com- 

 plete; dorsal fins continuous but distinct, the first with 14 spines of which the 3 

 anterior are very long and curved backward over the other spines; soft dorsal 

 elongate; anal larger than soft dorsal, with 3 spines; caudal deeply concave, the 

 lobes filamentous; pectorals and ventrals short. The genus contains a single 

 species. {Lachnolaimus, velvet throat.) 



285. LAOHNOLAIMUS MA!ximUS (WallDaum). 

 Hog-fisli; Capitaine. 



Labrus maximus Walbaxim, Artedi Genera Piscium, 261, 1792; Bahanias (after Catesby). 

 Lachnolaimus maximus, Jordan & Evennann, 1898, 1579, pi. ccxxxvii, fig. 597. 



Diagnosis. — Back elevated, greatest body depth about .4 total length; head .33 length; 

 mouth large, the gape wider in male, maxillary extending to a point under middle of eye ; 4 prom- 

 inent canine teeth in front of upper jaw, 2 in lower jaw with 2 small conical teeth between and 

 a row of blunt teeth on sides of each jaw; snout .4.head; eye .20 head; scales in lateral series 36 

 to 39, in transverse series 21 to 25, 6 rows of scales on cheeks, 5 rows on opercles; dorsal rays, 

 xiv,ll or 12, the longest spines much longer than head, the longest soft rays about equal to 

 head; anal rays iii,ll, the third spine longest. Color: varying from dull red to orange red, 

 lighter below; cheeks greenish; a wavy blue line below eye; a black bar from snout to back of 

 head; a large black spot at base of soft dorsal; dorsal greenish at base, with reddish edge; anal 

 and caudal with rows of green spots; pectorals orange; ventrals reddish; in adult males the 

 vertical fins usually black at base, (maximus, largest.) 



This hog-fish should not be confounded with the hog-fish or pig-fish, Ortho- 

 pristis, which is abundant on this coast, whereas Lachnolaimus is an exceedingly 

 rare straggler. It is a well known and abundant species in the West Indies, 

 southern^ Florida, and Bermuda, but does not appear to have been previously 

 noted at any point on our Atlantic coast north of Florida, and the present record 

 is based on a single young specimen 3.75 inches long seined at Beaufort in the 

 summer of 1902. The fish reaches a weight of 20 pounds and is highly esteemed 

 as food. 



Genus IRIDIC Jordan & Evennann. Slippery Dicks; Doncellas. 



A rather numerous genus of highly colored American fishes, usually found 

 among the kelp in tropical waters. Form elongate, compressed; head conic; 

 mouth small, terminal, with 2 enlarged canine teeth in front of upper jaw and 4 

 in front of lower jaw, together with a large canine tooth on each side of upper 

 jaw near angle of mouth and small intervening teeth; gill-membranes attached to 

 isthmus; gill-rakers short; preopercular margin entire; scales rather large on 

 body, none on head; lateral line abruptly decurved posteriorly; dorsal fins low, 



