CHAPTER XX

THE SURMULLETS, THE CROAKERS AND THEIR RELATIVES

=THE Surmullets, or Goatfishes: Mullidæ.=—The _Mullidæ_ (Surmullets) are shore-fishes of the warm seas, of moderate size, with small mouth, large scales, and possessing the notable character of two long, unbranched barbels of firm substance at the chin. The dorsal fins are short, well separated, the first of six to eight firm spines. There are two anal spines and the ventral fins, thoracic, are formed of one spine and five rays. The flesh is white and tender, often of very superior flavor. The species are carnivorous, feeding chiefly on small animals. They are not voracious, and predaceous fishes feed freely on them. The coloration is generally bright, largely red or golden, in nearly all cases with an under layer, below the scales, of red, which appears when the fish is scaled or placed in alcohol. The barbels are often bright yellow, and when the fish swims along the bottom these are carried in advance, feeling the way. Testing the bottom with their feelers, these fishes creep over the floor of shallow waters, seeking their food.

The numerous species are all very much alike in form, and the current genera are separated by details of the arrangement of the teeth. But few are found outside the tropics.

The surmullet or red mullet of Europe, _Mullus barbatus_, is the most famous species, placed by the Romans above all other fishes unless it be the scarus, _Sparisoma cretense_. From the satirical poets we learn that "enormous prices were paid for a fine fish, and it was the fashion to bring the fish into the dining-room and exhibit it alive before the assembled guests, so that they might gloat over the brilliant and changing colors during the death-agonies." It is red in life, and when the scales are removed, the color is much brighter.

It is an excellent fish, tender and rich, but nowhere so extravagantly valued to-day as was formerly the case in Rome. _Mullus surmuletus_ is a second European species, scarcely different from _Mullus barbatus_.

Equally excellent as food and larger in size are two Polynesian species known as kumu and munu (_Pseudupeneus porphyreus_ and _Pseudupeneus bifasciatus_). _Mullus auratus_ is a small surmullet occasionally taken off our Atlantic coast, but in deeper water than that frequented by the European species. _Pseudupeneus maculatus_ is the red goatfish or salmonete, common from Florida to Brazil, as is also the yellow goatfish, _Pseudupeneus martinicus_, equally valued. Many other species are found in tropical America, Polynesia, and the Indies and Japan. Perhaps the most notable are _Upeneus vittatus_, striped with yellow and with the caudal fin cross-barred and the belly sulphur-yellow, and _Upeneus arge_, similar, the belly white. The common red and black-banded "moana" or goatfish of Hawaii is _Pseudupeneus multifasciatus_.

No fossil _Mullidæ_ are recorded, so far as known to us.

=The Croakers: Sciænidæ.=—The family of _Sciænidæ_ (croakers, roncadors) is another of the great groups of food-fishes. The species are found on every sandy shore in warm regions and all of them are large enough to have value as food, while many have flesh of superior quality. None are brightly colored, most of the species being nearly plain silvery.

Special characters are the cavernous structure of the bones of the head, which are full of mucous tracts, the specialization (and occasional absence) of the air-bladder, and the presence of never more than two anal spines, one of these being sometimes very large. Most of the species are marine, all are carnivorous; none inhabit rocky places and none descend to depths in the sea. At the least specialized extreme of the family, the mouth is large with strong canines and the species are slender, swift, and predaceous.

The weakfish or squeteague (_Cynoscion regalis_) is a type of a multitude of species, large, swift, voracious, but with tender flesh, which is easily torn. The common weakfish, abundant on our Atlantic coast, suffers much at the hands of its enemy and associate, the bluefish. It is one of the best of all our food-fishes. Farther south the spotted weakfish (_Cynoscion nebulosus_), very incorrectly known as sea-trout, takes its place, and about New Orleans is especially and justly prized.

The California "bluefish," _Cynoscion parvipinnis_, is very similar to these Atlantic species, and there are many other species of _Cynoscion_ on both coasts of tropical America, forming a large part of the best fish-supply of the various markets of the mainland. On the rocky islands, as Cuba, and about coral reefs, _Sciænidæ_ are practically unknown. In the Gulf of California, the totuava, _Cynoscion macdonaldi_, reaches a weight of 172 pounds, and the stateliest of all, the great "white sea-bass" of California, _Cynoscion nobilis_, reaches 100 pounds. In these large species the flesh is much more firm than in the weakfish and thus bears shipment better. _Cynoscion_ has canines in the upper jaw only and its species are all American. In the East Indies the genus _Otolithes_ has strong canines in both jaws. Its numerous species are very similar in form, habits, and value to those of _Cynoscion_. The queenfish, _Seriphus politus_, of the California coast, is much like the others of this series, but smaller and with no canines at all. It is a very choice fish, as are also the species of _Macrodon_ (_Ancylodon_) known as pescadillo del red, voracious fishes of both shores of South America.

_Plagioscion squamosissimus_ and numerous species of _Plagioscion_ and other genera live in the rivers of South America. A single species, the river-drum, gaspergou, river sheepshead, or thunder-pumper (_Aplodinotus grunniens_), is found in streams in North America. This is a large fish reaching a length of nearly three feet. It is very widely distributed, from the Great Lakes to Rio Usumacinta in Guatemala, whence it has been lately received by Dr. Evermann. This species abounds in lakes and sluggish rivers. The flesh is coarse, and in the Great Lakes it is rarely eaten, having a rank odor. In Louisiana and Texas it is, however, regarded as a good food-fish. In this species the lower pharyngeals are very large and firmly united, while, as in all other _Sciænidæ_, except the genus _Pogonias_, these bones are separated. In all members of the family the ear-bones or otoliths are largely developed, often finely sculptured. The otoliths of the river-drum are known to Wisconsin boys as "lucky-stones," each having a rude impress of the letter L. The names roncador, drum, thunder-pumper, croaker, and the like refer to the grunting noise made by most _Sciænidæ_ in the water, a noise at least connected with the large and divided air-bladder.

Numerous silvery species belong to _Larimus_, _Corvula_, _Odontoscion_, and especially to _Bairdiella_, a genus in which the second anal spine is unusually strong. The mademoiselle, _Bairdiella chrysura_ is a pretty fish of our Atlantic coast, excellent as a pan fish. In _Bairdiella ensifera_ of Panama the second anal spine is enormously large, much as in a robalo (_Oxylabrax_).

In _Stellifer_ and _Nebris_, the head is soft and spongy. _Stellifer lanceolatus_ is occasionally taken off South Carolina, and numerous other species of this and related genera are found farther South.

_Sciænops ocellata_ is the red-drum or channel bass of our South Atlantic coast, a most important food-fish reaching a weight of seventy-five pounds. It is well marked by a black ocellus on the base of the tail. On the coast of Texas, this species, locally called redfish, exceeds in economic value all other species found in that State.

_Pseudosciæna aquila_, the maigre of southern Europe, is another large fish, similar in value to the red drum. _Pseudosciæna antarctica_ is the kingfish of Australia. To _Sciæna_ belong many species, largely Asiatic, with the mouth inferior, without barbels, the teeth small, and the convex snout marked with mucous pores. _Sciæna umbra_, the ombre, is the common European species, _Sciæna saturna_, the black roncador of California, is much like it. _Sciæna deliciosa_ is one of the most valued food-fishes of Peru, and _Sciæna argentata_ is valued in Japan. Species of _Sciæna_ are especially numerous on the coasts of India.

_Roncador stearnsi_, the California roncador, is a large fish with a black ocellus at the base of the pectoral. It has some importance in the Los Angeles market. The goody, spot, or lafayette (_Leiostomus xanthurus_) is a small, finely flavored species abundant from Cape Cod to Texas. Similar to it but inferior is the little roncador (_Genyonemus lineatus_) of California. The common croaker, _Micropogon undulatus_, is very abundant on our Eastern coast, and other species known as verrugatos or white-mouthed drummers replace it farther South.

In _Umbrina_ the chin has a short thick barbel. The species abound in the tropics, _Umbrina cirrosa_ in the Mediterranean; _Umbrina coroides_ in California, and the handsome _Umbrina roncador_, the yellow-tailed roncador, in southern California. The kingfish, _Menticirrhus_, differs in lacking the air-bladder, and lying on the bottom in shallow water the lower fins are enlarged much as in the darters or gobies. All the species are American. All are dull-colored and all excellent as food. _Menticirrhus saxatilis_ is the common kingfish or sea-mink, abundant from Cape Ann southward, _Menticirrhus americanus_ is the equally common sand-whiting of Carolina, and _Menticirrhus littoralis_ the surf-whiting. The California whiting or sand-sucker is _Menticirrhus undulatus_.

_Pogonias chromis_, the sea-drum, has barbels on the chin and the lower pharyngeals are enlarged and united as in the river-drum, _Aplodinotus_. It is a coarse fish common on our Atlantic coasts, a large specimen taken at St. Augustine weighing 146 pounds. Other species of this family, belonging to the genus _Eques_, are marked with ribbon-like stripes of black. _Eques lanceolatus_, known in Cuba as serrana, is the most ornate of these species, looking like a butterfly-fish or Chætodon.

Several fossil fragments have been doubtfully referred to _Sciæna_, _Umbrina_, _Pogonias_, and other genera. Otoliths or ear-bones not clearly identifiable are found from the Miocene on. These structures are more highly specialized in this group than in any other.

=The Sillaginidæ, etc.=—Allied to the _Sciænidæ_ is the small family of Kisugos, _Sillaginidæ_, of the coasts of Asia. These are slender, cylindrical fishes, silvery in color, with a general resemblance to small _Sciænas_.

_Sillago japonicas_, the kisugo of Japan, is a very abundant species, valued as food. _Sillago sihama_ ranges from Japan to Abyssinia.

A number of small families, mostly Asiatic, may be appended to the percoid series, with which they agree in general characters, especially in the normal structure of the shoulder-girdle and in the insertion of the pectoral and ventral fins.

The _Lactariidæ_ constitute a small family of the East Indies, allied to the _Sciænidæ_, but with three anal spines. The mouth is armed with strong teeth. _Lactarius lactarius_ is a food-fish of India.

The _Nandidæ_ are small spiny-rayed fishes of the East Indian streams, without pseudobranchiæ.

The _Polycentridæ_ are small fresh-water perch-like fishes of the streams of South America, without lateral line and with many anal spines.

=The Jawfishes: Opisthognathidæ, etc.=—The _Pseudochromipidæ_ are marine-fishes of the tropics with the lateral line interrupted, and with a single dorsal. They bear some resemblance to _Plesiops_ and other aberrant _Serranidæ_.

Very close to these are the _Opisthognathidæ_ or jawfishes with a single lateral line and the mouth very large. In certain species of _Opisthognathus_, the maxillary, long and curved, extends far behind the head. The few species are found in warm seas, but always very sparingly. Some of them are handsomely colored.

=The Stone-wall Perch: Oplegnathidæ.=—A singular group evidently allied to the _Hæmulidæ_ is the family of _Oplegnathidæ_. In these fishes the teeth are grown together to form a bony beak like the jaw of a turtle. Except for this character, the species are very similar to ordinary grunts. While the mouth resembles that of the parrot-fish, it is structurally different and must have been independently developed. _Oplegnathus punctatus_, the "stonewall perch" (ishigakidai), is common in Japan, as is also the banded _Oplegnathus fasciatus_. Other species are found in Australia and Chile.

=The Swallowers: Chiasmodontidæ.=—The family of swallowers _Chiasmodontidæ_, is made up of a few deep-sea fishes of soft flesh and feeble spines, the opercular apparatus much reduced. The ventrals are post-thoracic, the rays I, 5, facts which point to some affinity with the _Opisthognathidæ_, although Boulenger places these fishes among the _Percesoces_. _Chiasmodon niger_, the black swallower of the mid-Atlantic, has exceedingly long teeth and the whole body so distensible that it can swallow fishes of many times its own size. According to Gill:

"It espies a fish many times larger than itself, but which, nevertheless, may be managed; it darts upon it, seizes it by the tail and gradually climbs over it with its jaws, first using one and then the other; as the captive is taken in the stomach and integuments stretch out, and at last the entire fish is passed through the mouth and into the stomach, and the distended belly appears as a great bag, projecting out far backwards and forwards, over which is the swallower with the ventrals dislocated and far away from their normal place. The walls of the stomach and belly have been so stretched that they are transparent, and the species of the fish can be discerned within. But such rapacity is more than the captor itself can stand. At length decomposition sets in, the swallower is forced belly upwards, and the imprisoned gas, as in a balloon, takes it upwards from the depths to the surface of the ocean, and there, perchance, it may be found and picked up, to be taken home for a wonder, as it is really. Thus have at least three specimens found their way into museums—one being in the United States National Museum— and in each the fish in the stomach has been about twice as long, and stouter in proportion, than the swallower—six to twelve times bulkier! Its true habitat seems to be at a depth of about 1,500 fathoms."

Allied to this family is the little group of _Champsodontidæ_ of Japan and the East Indies. _Champsodon vorax_ looks like a young _Uranoscopus_. The body is covered with numerous lateral lines and cross-lines.

=The Malacanthidæ.=—The _Malacanthidæ_ are elongate fishes, rather handsomely colored, with a strong canine on the premaxillary behind. _Malacanthus plumieri_, the matajuelo blanco, a slender fish of a creamy-brown color, is common in the West Indies. Other species are found in Polynesia, the most notable being _Malacanthus_ (or _Oceanops_) _lativittatus_, a large fish of a brilliant sky-blue, with a jet-black lateral band. In Samoa this species is called gatasami, the "eye of the sea."

=The Blanquillos: Latilidæ.=—The _Latilidæ_, or blanquillos, have also an enlarged posterior canine, but the body is deeper and the flesh more firm. The species reach a considerable size and are valued as food. _Lopholotilus chamæleonticeps_ is the famous tilefish dredged in the depths under the Gulf Stream. It is a fish of remarkable beauty, red and golden. This species, Professor Gill writes, "was unknown until 1879, when specimens were brought by fishermen to Boston from a previously unexplored bank about eighty miles southeast of No Man's Land, Mass. In the fall of 1880 it was found to be extremely abundant everywhere off the coast of southern New England at a depth of from seventy-five to two hundred and fifty fathoms. The form of the species is more compressed, and higher, than in most of the family, and what especially distinguishes it is the development of a compressed, 'fleshy, fin-like appendage over the back part of the head and nape, reminding one of the adipose fin of the salmonids and catfishes.' It is especially notable, too, for the brilliancy of its colors, as well as for its size, being by far larger than any other member of its family. A weight of fifty pounds or more is, or rather, one might say, was frequently attained by it, although such was very far above the average, that being little over ten pounds. In the reach of water referred to, it could once be found abundantly at any time, and caught by hook and line. After a severe gale in March, 1882, millions of tilefish could be seen, or calculated for, on the surface of the water for a distance of about three hundred miles from north to south, and fifty miles from east to west. It has been calculated by Capt. Collins that as many as one thousand four hundred and thirty-eight millions were scattered over the surface. This would have allowed about two hundred and twenty-eight pounds to every man, woman and child of the fifty million inhabitants of the United States! On trying at their former habitat the next fall, as well as all successive years to the present time, not a single specimen could be found where formerly it was so numerous. We have thus a case of a catastrophe which, as far as has been observed, caused complete annihilation of an abundant animal in a very limited period. Whether the grounds it formerly held will be reoccupied subsequently by the progeny of a protected colony remains to be seen, but it is scarcely probable that the entire species has been exterminated." It is now certain that the species is not extinct.

_Caulolatilus princeps_ is the blanquillo or "whitefish" of southern California, a large handsome fish formed like a dolphin, of purplish, olivaceous color and excellent flesh. Other species of _Caulolatilus_ are found in the West Indies. _Latilus_ _japonicus_ is the amadai or sweet perch of Japan, an excellent food-fish of a bright crimson color.

The _Pinguipedidæ_ of Chile resemble the _Latilidæ_, having also the enlarged premaxillary tooth. The ventrals are, however, thickened and placed farther forward.

=The Bandfishes: Cepolidæ.=—The small family of _Cepolidæ_, or bandfishes, resemble the _Latilidæ_ somewhat and are probably related to them. The head is normally formed, the ventral fins are thoracic, with a spine and five rays, but the body is drawn out into a long eel-like form, the many-rayed dorsal and anal fins meeting around the tail. The few species are crimson in color with small scales. They are used as food, but the flesh is dry and the bones are stiff and numerous. _Cepola tænia_ is common in the Mediterranean, and _Acanthocepola krusensterni_ abounds in the bays of southern Japan.

=The Cirrhitidæ.=—The species of the family _Cirrhitidæ_ strongly resemble the smaller _Serranidæ_ and even _Serranus_ itself, but the lower rays of the pectoral fins are enlarged and are undivided, as in the sea-scorpions and some sculpins. In these fishes, however, the bony stay, which characterizes _Scorpænidæ_ and _Cottidæ_, is wholly absent. It is, however, considered possible that this interesting family represents the point of separation at which the mail-cheeked fishes become differentiated from the typical perch-like forms. _Goniistius zonatus_, the _takanohadai_, is a valuable food-fish of Japan, marked by black cross-bands. _Paracirrhites forsteri_ and other species of _Cirrhitus_ and _Paracirrhites_ are very pretty fishes of the coral reefs, abundant in the markets of Honolulu, the spotted _Cirrhitus marmoratus_ being the most widely diffused of these. Only one species of this family, _Cirrhitus rivulatus_, a large fish, green, with blue markings, is found in American waters. It frequents the rocky shores of the west coast of Mexico.

Allied to the _Cirrhitidæ_ is the small family of _Latrididæ_, with a long dorsal fin deeply divided, and the lower rays of the pectoral similarly modified. _Latris hecateia_ is called the "trumpeter" in Australian waters. It is one of the best food-fishes of Australia, reaching a weight of sixty to eighty pounds.

Another small family showing the same peculiar structure of the pectoral fin is that of the _Aplodactylidæ_. The species of _Aplodactylus_ live on the coasts of Chile and Australia. They are herbivorous fishes, with flat, tricuspid teeth, and except for their pectoral fins are very similar to the _Kyphosidæ_.

=The Sandfishes: Trichodontidæ.=—In the neighborhood of the _Latrididæ_, Dr. Boulenger places the _Trichodontidæ_ or sandfishes, small, scaleless, silvery fishes of the northern Pacific. These are much compressed in body, with very oblique mouths, with fringed lips and, as befits their northern habitat, with a much increased number of vertebræ. They bury themselves in sand under the surf, and the two species, _Trichodon trichodon_ and _Arctoscopus japonicus_, range very widely in the regions washed by the Japan current. These species bear a strong resemblance to the star-gazers (_Uranoscopus_), but this likeness seems to be superficial only.