FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
253 
entrance of the bay, and the principal catches are made in the vicinity of Cape Charles, Ocean View, 
and Buckroe Beach, Va. The season extends from May until October, with no definite period 
when they are especially abundant. 
The chief sea-bass grounds are off the coasts of North Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, and 
western Long Island. To the eastward the fish are more scattered, but they are of some commercial 
importance in the following localities: Amagansett and Montauk, Long Island, off Block Island, 
and in the vicinity of Buzzards Bay. The sea bass is of chief importance along the New Jersey 
coast, where it is taken from May to November, not only by commercial fishermen but by a large 
number of anglers from the vicinity of New York. The magnitude of this sport fishing during the 
summer is remarkable, for no less than 100 seagoing power boats of various sizes carry as many as 
4,000 or more persons daily to the fishing banks. 
The sea bass is a well-flavored fish and finds ready sale in the Norfolk, Va., markets, where 
most of the Chesapeake catch is sold. The largest fish of which we have reeord weighed 7J^ pounds 
and was caught on the Cholera Banks, off Long Island, on July 4, 1913. Examples weighing 
more than 6 pounds are rare, but 3 to 5 pound fish are rather common along the New Jersey coast 
during the summer. Its size in Chesapeake Bay, however, seldom exceeds one-half pound. 
Habitat . — Massachusetts to northern Florida; rarely northward to Maine. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Cape Charles city, Norfolk, and Cape Henry. 
(6) Specimens in collection: From many localities from the southern part of the bay from Solo- 
mons, Md., to Cape Charles and Lynnhaven Roads, Va. 
Family LXII. — PRiACANTHID/E. The big-eyes 
Body oblong, compressed; head deep; snout short; eye very large; mouth rather large, very 
oblique to nearly vertical; teeth pointed, in bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines; preopercular 
margin serrate; pseudobranchiae large; branchiostegals 6; lateral line continuous, not extending on 
caudal; scales small, firm, ctenoid, extending forward on head; dorsal fin continuous, with about 10 
spines; anal fin with 3 spines; ventral fins thoracic, with I, 5 rays. Two genera of this family of 
tropical fishes occur as stragglers in Chesapeake Bay. 
KEY TO THE GENERA 
a. Scales small, 80 to 100 in lateral series; body elongate, the depth less than half the length; soft 
dorsal and anal, each with 12 to 15 rays Priacanthus, p. 253 
aa. Scales larger, 35 to 50 in a lateral series; body deep, the depth about half the length; soft dorsal 
and anal, each with 9 to 11 rays Pseudopriacanthus, p. 254 
106. Genus PRIACANTHUS Cuvier. Big-eyes 
Body oblong, the depth less than half the length; preopercle with a well-developed, flat spine 
at angle; lateral line extending strongly upward and backward from upper angle of gill opening to 
anterior dorsal spine, then following curvature of back; scales small, 80 to 100 in a lateral series; 
dorsal with X, 13 or 14 rays; anal III, 13 to 15. 
137. Priacanthus arenatus Cuvier and Valenciennes. Big-eye 
Priacanthus arenatus Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 1829, p. 97; Brazil. Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, 
p. 1237, PI. CXCV, fig. 511. 
Head 3.2; depth 2.6; D. X, 14; A. Ill, 15; scales 98. Body elongate, rather strongly compressed; 
ventral outline anteriorly much more strongly convex than the dorsal; head deep; snout short, 3.85 
in head; eye very large, 2.1; interorbital 5.1; mouth moderate, nearly vertical; lower jaw projecting; 
maxillary broad, reaching only a little past anterior margin of eye, 1.85 in head; teeth small, pointed, 
in narrow bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines; preopercular margin finely serrate, the angle pro- 
duced into a short, flat, serrated spine; opercle with an indentation slightly above and behind pre- 
opercular spine; gill rakers long and slender, 21 on lower limb of first arch; scales small, ctenoid; 
dorsal fin continuous, the spines slender, pungent, the soft part not much higher than the spines; 
caudal fin with slightly concave margin; anal fin with three slender graduated spines, the soft part 
