9 8 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
The Sailor’s Choice, Lagodon rhomboides , is found in very great 
abundance from Cape Hatteras south, and around the Gulf coast ; 
also occasionally north of Cape Hatteras ; it is known in the lower part 
of the Chesapeake Bay, and two or three stragglers have recently been 
taken at Wood’s Holl, Massachusetts. It is not uncommon in the Ber¬ 
mudas. It may readily be recognized by the longitudinal stripes of 
iridescent color upon the sides, and by the peculiar character of the teeth, 
\ 
each having a prominent notch on either edge. 
The “Sailor’s Choice,” as it is called in the St. John’s River, at 
in favor as a food-fish, although when very fresh it is entitled to a middle 
rank. Large ones should be broiled with rich sauce, small ones treated as 
pan-fish. The flesh is somewhat dry, and without distinctive flavor. 
I was greatly surprised to find this species exposed for sale in the markets 
of Paris and Rouen in 1883, and meeting with a ready sale. A large 
quantity had been sent in ice from New York to France. 
The European analogue of our American Scup or Porgy is the Spams 
auratus , the Braize or Becker, sometimes Bream, of the fishermen. This 
fish frequents the European coast in summer, and is said to have 
much the same habits as our American species. They are eaten only by 
the poorer classes. 
THE SAILOR’S CHOICE. 
