272 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
in head; eye 3 to 3.95; interorbital 3 to 3.85; mouth horizontal; lower jaw shorter than the upper, 
included; maxillary reaching nearly opposite middle of eye, 2.65 to 3.2 in head; teeth in the jaws 
minute, in villiform bands, wanting in lower jaw in adult; chin and snout with several pores; no 
barbels; gill rakers short, 22 to 23 on lower limb of first arch; scales rather small, ctenoid, extending 
on the caudal fin and covering most of it in adults, a few scales also present on the base of the other 
fins; dorsal fins contiguous, the first composed of slender spines, the middle ones longest, notably 
higher than any of the rays in the soft part; caudal fin truncate in very young, notably concave in 
adult, the upper rays the longest; anal fin with two stiff spines, origin of fin under middle of soft 
dorsal; ventral fins moderate, inserted a little behind base of pectorals; pectoral fins long, reaching 
well beyond tips of ventrals in adult, failing to reach this point in young, 0.95 to 1.45 in head. 
Color bluish gray with golden reflections above; silvery underneath; sides with 12 to 15 oblique 
yellowish (dusky in preserved specimens) bars, in fish ranging upward of 50 millimeters, and again 
becoming indistinct in very large fish; a large, yellowish black shoulder spot present, except in very 
young; fins mostly pale yellow; dorsal and caudal fins more or less dusky; anal and ventrals also 
partly dusky in large examples. Young fish, 40 millimeters and less in length, mostly pale; sides of 
head silvery; sides of body and back each with a row of dark blotches composed of dusky punctu- 
lations, besides other irregularly placed dusky points. 
Fig. 155 . — Leiostomus lanthurus. From a specimen 8 inches long 
Many specimens of this species, ranging from 15 to 345 millimeters (Y to 13J-0 n ches) in length, 
were preserved. The very young differ notably in color from the adult, as shown in the descrip- 
tion. The young also are notably more slender, with the back proportionately much less strongly 
elevated. The comparatively short, compressed body, short, obtuse head, rather small horizontal 
mouth, and the oblique bars, and particularly the dark shoulder spot, distinguish this fish from 
related forms. 
The male of this species makes a croaking or drumming sound, but it is not a loud one, owing 
probably to the thinness of the walls of the air bladder and the feeble development of the drum- 
ming muscles. 
The food of the spot, as shown by the contents of 157 stomachs removed from specimens taken 
in Chesapeake Bay, consists mainly of small and minute crustaceans and annelids, together with 
smaller amounts of small mollusks, fish, and vegetable debris. 
The spot grows rather rapidly during the first summer. The following sizes were collected 
during the spring and summer: April, 23 to 25 millimeters (about 1 inch) ; May, 26 to 72 millimeters 
(1 to 2 7 / s inches); June, 21 to 86 millimeters to Z 2 / b inches); July, 32 to 82 millimeters (1J4 to 
3)4 inches). The wide range in the size of young fish taken in the Chesapeake throughout most of 
the year makes it difficult to determine a correct average rate of growth. As the spawning season 
quite probably is a protracted one, a considerable variation in size among the young would be 
