Fig. 317.—Tautog, Tautoga onitis (L.). Wood's Hole, Mass.
All are carnivorous, feeding mainly on crustaceans and snails, which they crush with their strong teeth, there being often a strong canine at the posterior end of the premaxillary, which holds the snail while the lower jaw acts upon it. The species are very numerous and form the most conspicuous feature in the fish markets of every tropical port. They abound especially in the pools and openings in the coral reefs. All are good for food, though all are relatively flavorless, the flesh being rather soft and not oily.
The Wrasse Fishes: Labridæ.—The principal family is that of the Labridæ, characterized by the presence of separate teeth in the front of the jaws. Numerous fossil species are known from the Eocene and Miocene. Most of these are known only from the lower pharyngeal bones. Labrodon is the most widely diffused genus, probably allied to Labrus, but with a pile of successional teeth beneath each functional tooth. The species are mostly from the Miocene.
Fig. 318.—Tautog, Tautoga onitis (L.). (From life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.)
The northern forms of Labridæ are known as wrasse on the coasts of England. Among these are Labrus bergylta, the ballan wrasse; Labrus viridis, the green wrasse; Labrus ossiphagus, the red wrasse; and Labrus merula, the black wrasse. Acantholabrus palloni and Centrolabrus exoletus have more than three anal spines. The latter species, known as rock cook, is abundant in western Norway, as far north as Throndhjem, its range extending to the northward beyond that of any other Labroid. Allied to these, on the American coast, is the tautog or blackfish, Tautoga onitis, a common food-fish, dusky in color with excellent white flesh, especially abundant on the coast of New England. With this, and still more abundant, is the cunner or chogset, Tautogolabrus adspersus, greenish-blue in color, the flesh being also more or less blue. This fish is too small to have much value as food, but it readily takes the hook set for better fishes.
Fig. 319.—Capitaine or Hogfish, Lachnolaimus falcatus. Florida.
In the Mediterranean are found many species of Crenilabrus, gaily colored, each species having its own peculiar pattern and its own arrangement of inky spots. Among these are Crenilabrus mediterraneus, Crenilabrus pavo, and Crenilabrus griseus. With these are the small species called Ctenolabrus rupestris, the goldsinny, much like the American cunner, and the long-nosed Symphodus scina.
Of the many West Indian species we may notice the Capitaine or hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus, a great fish, crimson in color, with its fin spines ending in long streamers; Bodianus rufus, the Spanish ladyfish or pudiano, half crimson, half golden. Halichæres radiatus, the pudding-wife (a mysterious word derived from "oldwife" and the Portuguese name, pudiano), a blue fish handsomely mottled and streaked. Of the smaller species, Clepticus parræ, the janissary, with very small teeth, Halichœres bivittatus, the slippery-dick, ranging northward to Cape Hatteras, and Doratonotus megalepis, of an intense grass-green color, are among the most notable. The razor-fish, Xyrichthys psittacus, red, with the forehead compressed to a sharp edge, is found in the Mediterranean as well as throughout the West Indies, where several other species of razor-fish also occur.