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_. [Illustration: FIG. 290.—Golden Surmullet, _Mullus auratus_ Jordan & Gilbert. Wood's Hole, Mass. ] 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. [Illustration: FIG. 291.—Spotted Weakfish, _Cynoscion nebulosus_. Virginia. ] 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.