FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
295 
compressed; back elevated; ventral outline nearly straight; head low; snout conical, projecting 
beyond mouth, 2.9 to 3.25 in head; eye 3.1 to 4.1; interorbital 3.6 to 4.7; mouth horizontal, inferior; 
chin with a single, short, thickish barbel; maxillary reaching nearly or quite opposite middle of eye, 
2.6 to 3.05 in head; teeth in the jaws in bands, none of them especially enlarged; preopercle serrate; 
gill rakers very short, seven or eight more or less developed on lower limb of first arch; scales rather 
large, firm, strongly ctenoid, notably reduced in size on the chest; dorsal fins contiguous; the first 
composed of slender, flexible spines, none of them produced, the longest scarcely reaching the origin 
of the second dorsal when deflexed, 5.3 to 6.45 in length in specimens 100 to 160 millimeters long; 
second dorsal rather long and low; caudal fin with concave upper lobe and pointed lower lobe, 
more produced in the young than in the adult; anal fin small, with a single weak spine; ventral fins 
moderate, inserted fully half an eye’s diameter behind base of pectorals; pectoral fins short and 
broad, not nearly reaching tips of ventrals, 1.3 to 1.55 in head. 
Color silvery gray above, paler below; sides without dark markings; fins mostly pale; the spinous 
dorsal and the lower lobe of the caudal usually with more or less dusky. Very young (60 millimeters 
and less in length) with dusky punctulations; the punctulations sometimes concentrated, forming 
dusky blotches on the back and two on base of caudal. 
Many specimens, ranging from 22 to 160 millimeters to 6 inches) in length, were pre- 
served. All except the very young are readily separated from other species of Menticirrhus by the 
greatly reduced scales on the chest. The scales in this fish are somewhat larger, and the length of 
pectorals, as compared with the length of the ventrals, is less. All of these characters are rather 
difficult of application in the very young, which are separated from M. americanus not without 
trouble. The young differ from the adults chiefly in color and in the longer and more pointed 
lower lobe of the caudal. 
The food of this species appears to be identical with that of M. saxatilis. Seven stomachs 
examined contained crustaceans only. 
The eggs and also the young, smaller than the smallest ones at hand, have not been described. 
Smith (1907, p. 324) states that he took ripe fish in June at Cape Lookout; also that ripe eggs have 
been taken on several occasions between June 1 and June 10 at Beaufort, N. C. 
The species apparently has not been recorded previously from Chesapeake Bay. It was not 
distinguished from M. americanus in the field. Judging from the number of specimens obtained, 
it probably is the least abundant of the three species occurring in Chesapeake Bay. Whether or 
not this southern species of whiting is taken in commercial numbers in Chesapeake Bay can not 
be stated here for the reason already stated — that the species was not recognized in the field. 
Habitat . — “South Atlantic and Gulf coasts; rarely, if ever, straying north of North Carolina” 
(Smith, 1907). Now apparently for the first time recorded from Chesapeake Bay. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: None. (5) Specimens in collections: Buckroe 
Beach, Ocean View, and Lynnhaven Roads, Va. 
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