The sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus, is much the most valuable fish of this group. The broad body is crossed by about seven black cross-bands. It is common from Cape Cod to Texas in sandy bays, reaching rarely a weight of fifteen pounds. Its flesh is most excellent, rich and tender. The sheepshead is a quiet bottom-fish, but takes the hook readily and with some spirit. Close to the sheepshead is a smaller species known as Salema (Archosargus unimaculatus), with blue and golden stripes and a black spot at the shoulder. It abounds in the West Indies.
Fig. 285.—Archosargus unimaculatus (Bloch), Salema, Striped Sheepshead. Family Sparidæ.
On the coast of Japan and throughout Polynesia are numerous species of Lethrinus and related genera, formed and colored like snappers, but with molar teeth and the cheek without scales. A common species in Japan is Lethrinus richardsoni.
Fossil species of Diplodus, Sparus, Pagrus, and Pagellus occur in the Italian Eocene, as also certain extinct genera, Sparnodus and Trigonodon, of similar type. Sparnodus macrophthalmus is abundant in the Eocene of Monte Bolca.
The Picarels: Mænidæ.—The Mænidæ, or Picarels, are elongate, gracefully formed fishes, remarkable for the extreme protractility of the upper jaw. Spicara smaris and several other small species are found in the Mediterranean. Emmelichthys contains species of larger size occurring in the West Indies and various parts of the Pacific, chiefly red and very graceful in form and color. Emmelichthys vittatus, the boga, is occasionally taken in Cuba, Erythrichthys schlegeli is found in Japan and Hawaii.
Fig. 286.—Mojarra, Xystæma cinereum (Walbaum). Key West.
The Mojarras: Gerridæ.—The Gerridæ, or Mojarras, have the mouth equally protractile, but the form of the body is different, being broad, compressed, and covered with large silvery scales. In some species the dorsal spines and the third anal spine are very strong, and in some the second interhæmal is quill-shaped, including the end of the air-bladder, as in Calamus. Most of the species, including all the peculiar ones, are American. The smallest, Eucinostomus, have the quill-shaped interhæmal and the dorsal and anal spines are very weak. The commonest species is the silver jenny, or mojarra de Ley, Eucinostomus gula, which ranges from Cape Cod to Rio Janeiro, in the surf along sandy shores. Equally common is Eucinostomus californiensis of the Pacific Coast of Mexico, while Eucinostomus harengulus of the West Indies is also very abundant. Ulæma lefroyi has but two anal spines and the interhæmal very small. It is common through the West Indies. Xystæma, with the interhæmal spear-shaped and normally formed, is found in Asia and Polynesia more abundantly than in America, although one species, Xystæma cinereum, the broad shad, or Mojarra blanca, is common on both shores of tropical America. Xystæma gigas is found in Polynesia, X. oyena in Japan, and X. filamentosum in Formosa and India. Xystæma massalongoi is also fossil in the Miocene of Austria. The species of Gerres have very strong dorsal and anal spines and the back much elevated. Gerres plumieri, the striped mojarra, Gerres brasiliensis, the patao, Gerres olisthostomus, the Irish pampano, and Gerres rhombeus are some of the numerous species found on the Florida coast and in the West Indies. The family of Leiognathidæ, already noticed (page [287]), should stand next to the Gerridæ.
