California White Sea-bass — Part 3

Cynoscion nobilis (Ayres)

Images coming soon.

Colour, brassy, paler below; middle part of body with short, irregular, dusky vertical bars crossing the lateral line; many dark brown sports on side of back, irregularly placed and not forming continuous streaks along rows of scales; usually some of these coalesce to form 2 dark streaks concurrent with the back.

GENUS MENTICIRRHUS GILL

The Kingfishes

Body rather elongate, little compressed; head long, subconic, the bluntish snout considerably projecting beyond the mouth, which is small and horizontal; both jaws with bands of villiform teeth, the outer of the upper jaw more or less enlarged; chin with a single stoutish barbel; preopercle with its membranaceous edge serrulate; gill-rakers short and tubercular or obsolete; dorsal spines high and slender, 10 or 11 in number; soft dorsal long and low; caudal fin with the lower lobe rounded, the upper sharp; anal with a single weak spine; no air-bladder; lower pharyngeals separate, the teeth varying from sharp to very obtuse.

This genus is one of the most important of the family, containing 9 species, all American. Only a few are of food-value.

a. Gill-rakers obsolete, reduced to tubercular prominences.

b. Mouth rather large, the maxillary reaching middle of eye, 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 in head.

c. Outer teeth of upper jaw decidedly enlarged; spinous dorsal not much elevated, the longest not usually reaching front of soft dorsal, 1 1/2 to 1 2/3 in head . . . . . americanus

cc. Outer teeth of upper jaw less enlarged; spinous dorsal elevated, the longest spine reaching past front of soft dorsal, 1 1/2 in head. saxatilis

bb. Mouth smaller, the maxillary scarcely reaching eye, 3 1/3 in head. undulatus

aa. Gill-rakers present, very short and rather slender . . . . . littorals

The most important species is the sand whiting or Carolina whiting, Menticirrhus americanus. It is found on our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts from the Chesapeake Bay to Texas. It is very common on sandy shores southward, and is a food-fish of considerable importance.

Colour, grayish silvery, with obscure darker clouds along back and sides, these marks forming dusky bars running obliquely forward and downward to below the lateral line, the bar at the nape saddle-shaped.

The Northern whiting, kingfish, or sea-mink, M. saxatilis, is found from Cape Ann to Key West and Pensacola, its centre of greatest abundance being northward. It is a good food-fish. Colour, dusky-gray above, sometimes blackish, the back and sides with distinct dark oblique cross-bands running downward and forward, the anterior one at the nape extending downward, meeting the second and thus forming a V-shaped blotch on each side.

The California whiting, M. undulatus, occurs from the Santa Barbara Islands southward on sandy shores, and is a food-fish of some value. M. elongatus is found from Mazatlan to Panama and is very common in the surf. Colour, bluish on back and sides, silvery below, without stripes or bands.

The surf whiting or silver whiting, M. littoralis, is found on sandy shores from the Carolinas to Texas and is generally common. Colour, silvery gray above, with bluish and bronze reflections, without spots; a dark bronze shade along sides at level of pectorals, extending to tail and along cheeks; belly below this abruptly white; dorsal fins light brown, the spinous dorsal black at tip, the base narrowly white; caudal pale, its tip usually black.

GENUS POGONIAS LACEPEDE

The Sea-drums

Body short and deep, the dorsal outline much elevated, the ventral nearly straight; mouth moderate, the upper jaw the longer; teeth small, in villiform bands, the outer not enlarged; lower pharyngeal bones large, fully united, armed with strong paved teeth; lower jaw with numerous barbels, each about half length of eye; preopercle entire, with a membranaceous edge; dorsal fins slightly connected, the spines high and strong; caudal fin subtruncate; first anal spine short, the second exceedingly large, nearly as long as the soft rays; pectorals and ventrals long; gill-rakers short and bluntish; pseudobranchiae large.

This genus contains 2 species, both American, and both large, coarse fishes, among the largest in the family. The more important of the 2 species is the common drum or black drum, Pogonias cromis.

The drum is found from New England to the Rio Grande, and is a common and well-known fish on sandy shores everywhere, particularly southward. It is one of the largest food-fishes on our coast. The largest example on record was taken at St. Augustine, florida, and weighed 146 pounds. Examples weighing 50 to 80 pounds are not rare, though those seen in market weigh only a few pounds. The drum is a sluggish fish, feeding chiefly at the bottom, where their long, sensitive barbels aid them greatly in their search for food, which consists mostly of crustaceans and mollusks, which they easily crush with their strong, paved pharyngeal teeth. They are believed to be very destructive to oyster-beds, particularly southward.