424 



Fishing in Ameeican Watees. 



quently the shape and character of the scales, the character 

 of the gills, and the number of the gill-openings. 



The most important and easily recognized of these features 

 are the fins ; and in describing them the names are given, 

 and the number of spines or rays in each. 



FIRST CLASS OF FISHES; 



SPINE-RAYED BONY FISHES. {Acanthopterygii.) 



Scale of Ihchee. 



The Pbeoh Family.— 1. Amenc&nYeUow Ferch, Percajlavescens. 2. Striped Sea Bass, 

 Ldbrax lineatus. 3. Black Baes, or Black Perch of Lake Huron, Hwro nif/ricana. 4. 

 Growler, or Wliite Salmon of Virginia. Orystes salmoides. 5. Black Sea Bass, Cen- 

 tropistes ni^rwans. 6. Mediterranean Apogon, Apogon trimaculatits. 7. Two-band- 

 ed DiplopnoD, Dipl&prion 'bifaciatwm. 8. One-spotted Mesoprion, ijfesoprwm uimm- 

 tatus. 9. Riiby-colored Etelis, Etelis carbimculus. 10. Armed Enoplossus, ETioplos- 

 8U8 armatus. 11. Lettered Serranus, Serra/mis scriba. 12. Spined SerranuB, Serranus 

 anthias. 13. Red Surmullet, Mullua harbatus. 



THE PERCH FAMILY. {CtenOzds,) 



The spine -rayed bony jfishes comprise more than three 

 fourths of all the various kinds that are known. From four- 

 teen to seventeen different families, some of them embracing 

 {Several hundred species each, have been included in this di- 

 vision. At the head of the whole stands the Perch family, 

 the most numerous of all. Most of them are salt-water fish, 



