Game Fishing > Sea-Bass Family, Serranidae > Southern Sea-Bass

Southern Sea-Bass

This species was described by Linnaeus in 1758, and named philadelphicus, under the impression that his specimen was from the vicinity of that city. Afterward he received specimens from the South Carolina coast, which, in 1766, he named trifurca, meaning "threeforked," in allusion to its "triple-tail." The older name, unfortunately, must stand.

Its color is olive-gray, darkest on the back, whitish below, with seven oblique dusky and diffuse bars along the upper portion of the sides. The three-forked appearance of the caudal fin is more pronounced than in the northern sea-bass; otherwise there is no structural difference, except in coloration. Its habits are similar. The same remarks apply equally to the following species, except that it has a few less gill-rakers than the northern species.

They may eventually all prove to be the same species, or geographical varieties. The directions as to fishing apply as well to both these southern forms as to the northern sea-bass.