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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
or near the channels where the water is 4 to 20 feet deep. It is one of the best and most interesting 
game-fishes of our southern waters. It is remarkable for the vigor and “rush” with which it takes 
the hook and for the mad dashes it makes to free itself. The fight which it makes is much like that 
one sometimes gets from an unusually large fresh-water sunfish, but is stronger, more prolonged, and 
more exciting, as the fish is larger and stronger. 
Chub fishing at Key West, though not known to everyone who has gone to those waters to wet 
a line, is really one of the surest and most satisfactory ways of enjoyment the angler can find at that 
place. The chub is caught by still-fishing and the usual bait is pieces of the soft parts of the large 
spiny lobster (Panulirus americanus), which is very abundant about Key West. The fish swim at 
various depths, but usually not far above the bottom. The water is very clear and the fact that the 
angler can see the fish, as it rushes frantically in one direction and then in another to free itself, adds 
not a little to the excitement and interest of the sport. 
Perea marina sedatrix (the Rudder-fish), Catesby, Nat. Hist. Car., 138, 1731, Carolina. 
Perea saltarix Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 293, 1758 (misprint, incorrectly copied from Catesby, who called it sedatrix), 
Carolina. 
Chsetodon cyprinaceus (Broussonet) Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, 1269, 1788, name only; on a specimen from the tropical Atlantic 
(coll. Parkinson, in voyage of Capt. Cook: described by Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1. c., VIII, 263). 
Pimelepterus bosquii Lact'pede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., IV, 429, 1803, South Carolina. 
Pimelepterus oblongior Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., VII, 264, 1831, locality unknown; depth 3 in total 
length: 14 longitudinal streaks. 
Pimelepterus bosci var. sicula Doderlein, Nat. Sicil. , Ann. 11, fasc. 2, 1883, Palermo. 
Pimelepterus boscii, Poey, Fauna Puerto-Riquefia, 330, 1881; Stahl, 1. c., 77 and 163, 1883. 
Kyphosus sedatrix, Jordan & Evermann, 1. c., 1387, 1898. 
Fig. 63. — Kyphosus sedatrix. 
Family XLIX. SCI^NID^. The Croakers. 
Body compressed, more or less elongate, covered with rather thin scales, which are usually more 
or less ctenoid. Lateral line continuous, usually more or less concurrent with back, extending on 
caudal fin. Head prominent, covered with scales; bones of the skull cavernous, muciferous system 
highly developed, surface of skull, when the flesh is removed, very uneven. Suborbital bones 
without backward projecting “stay.” Chin usually with pores, sometimes with barbels. Mouth 
small or large, the teeth in one or more series, outer of which are sometimes enlarged; canines often 
present. No incisor nor molar teeth; no teeth on vomer, palatines, pterygoids, nor tongue. Maxillary 
without supplemental bone, slipping under free edge of preorbital, which is usually broad. Premax- 
illaries protractile, but not very freely movable. Nostrils double. Pseudobranchiae usually large, 
present in most of the genera. Gills 4, a slit behind fourth. Gillrakers present. Branchiostegals 7. 
Gill-membranes separate, free from isthmus. Lower pharyngeals separate or united, often enlarged, 
teeth conic or molar. Preopercle serrate or not. Opercle usually ending in 2 flat points. Dorsal fin 
deeply notched or divided into 2 fins, soft dorsal being the longer, spines depressible into a more or 
less perfect groove. Anal fin with 1 or 2 spines, never more than 2. Ventral fins thoracic, i, 5, below 
