Miscellaneous Fishes 385 



or spade-fish, is more sombre in hue than the 

 others, and belongs to a different family, Ephip- 

 pidcB ; it has a somewhat larger mouth, and is 

 more widely distributed. It was described by 

 Broussonet, in 1782, from Jamaica, who named 

 lifaber, or " blacksmith," though why is difficult 

 to imagine, except that it is dark in its general 

 hue, with smutty cross bars. It is very abundant 

 from the South Atlantic coast to South America, 

 and is not uncommon, occasionally, as far north 

 as Cape Cod. It is very common on the east 

 and west coasts of Florida. 



It has a short, very deep body, nearly round in 

 outline, and very much compressed ; it is almost 

 as deep as long. Its head is short and deep, 

 with its profile nearly vertical. The mouth is 

 small, with slender, movable teeth, on jaws only ; 

 the soft dorsal and anal fins are quite large and 

 winglike, extending far backward nearly to the 

 tail; they are quite scaly, which adds much to 

 their thickness and stiffness; the caudal fin is 

 broad and nearly square. 



The general color is usually gray or slate 

 color, often bluish with iridescent tints ; there are 

 several dusky, broad vertical bars across the body, 

 becoming obsolete or faint with age. 



