Fig. 306.—White Surf-fish, viviparous, with young, Cymatogaster aggregatus Gibbons. San Francisco.
Fig. 307.—Fresh-water Viviparous Perch, Hysterocarpus traski Gibbons. Sacramento River.
Fig. 308.—Hypsurus caryi (Agassiz). Monterey.
The Embiotocidæ.—The group contains a single family, the Embiotocidæ, or surf-fishes. All but two of the species are confined to California, these two living in Japan. The species are relatively small fishes, from five inches to eighteen inches in length, with rather large, usually silvery scales, small mouths and small teeth. They feed mainly on crustaceans, two or three species being herbivorous. With two exceptions, they inhabit the shallow waters on sandy beaches, where they bring forth their young. They can be readily taken in nets in the surf. As food-fishes they are rather inferior, the flesh being somewhat watery and with little flavor. Many are dried by the Chinese. The two exceptions in distribution are Hysterocarpus traski, which lives exclusively in fresh waters, being confined to the lowlands of the Sacramento Basin, and Zalembius rosaceus, which descends to considerable depths in the sea. In Hysterocarpus the spinous dorsal is very greatly developed, seventeen stout spines being present, the others having but eight to eleven and these very slender.
Fig. 309.—White Surf-fish, Damalichthys argyrosomus (Girard). British Columbia.
Fig. 310.—Thick-lipped Surf-fish, Rhacochilus toxotes Agassiz. Monterey, Cal.