Common Pompano 



West and is occasionally taken in Indian River. It should be 

 remarked, however, that to the Indian River fishermen this species 

 is not distinguished from the common pompano, and that the 

 fish known to them as the "permit" is the round pompano 

 {T. falcatus). The permit is an excellent food-fish, not as good 

 as the common pompano, but usually sold as that species and 

 bringing as good a price. 



Head 3; depth 2f; D. VI-1, 19; A. II-I, 17; maxillary 2|; 

 ventrals 2. Body oblong, elliptical, moderately compressed; profile 

 nearly straight from procumbent spine to nostril, where it des- 

 cends nearly vertically, forming an angle, the vertical portion 

 from angle to snout nearly equalling eye; maxillary reaching 

 slightly behind middle of eye; jaws with bands of viUiform teeth, 

 disappearing with age; ventrals reaching i distance to vent; dorsal 

 and anal fins falcate, the anterior rays less elevated than in the 

 round pompano, but extending beyond middle of fin when de- 

 pressed; caudal forked, the lobes 3 in body; lateral line nearly 

 straight, slightly curved upward above the pectoral. Colour, 

 bluish-silvery above, silvery below; dorsal, caudal, and anal lobes 

 black; no crossbars. 



Trachinotus argenteus, the silvery pompano, is a very rare 

 species, known only from the West Indies south to Brazil. The 

 type specimen was recorded from New York, but probably really 

 came from Brazil. The species is allied to T. carolinus, but 

 probably has the body deeper, the depth being half the length 

 in examples 6 inches long, or 2^5- in length in the type, a spec- 

 imen a foot in length. 



Common Pompano 



Trachinotus carolinus (Linnaeus) 



The common pompano has its home along our South Atlantic 

 and Gulf Coasts. It is rare in the West Indies and on the coast 

 of Brazil, and does not occur on our Pacific Coast. On the 

 Atlantic Coast it ranges as far north as Cape Cod, but it is not 

 at all common north of New Jersey, and its occurrence that far 

 north is irregular and uncertain. It seems to be most abundant 

 on the South Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, and is particularly com- 

 mon in Indian River and on the west coast of Florida. Of all 



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