Thirteen species are known, chiefly distributed in the warmer parts of the temperate zones, and more scantily represented between the tropics. Several species (_P. vulgaris, P. auriga, P. bocagii_) occur in the Mediterranean and the neighbouring parts of the Atlantic; one (_P. argyrops_) is well known on the coasts of the United States under the names of “Scup,” “Porgy,” or “Mishcup,” and one of the most important food fishes, growing to a length of 18 inches and a weight of 4 lbs.; another (_P. unicolor_) is one of the best-known sea-fishes of Southern Australia and New Zealand, where it is called “Snapper;” it is considered very good eating, like all the other species of this genus, and attains, like some of them, a length of more than 3 feet and a weight exceeding 20 lbs. PAGELLUS.--Body oblong, compressed, with scales of moderate size. Jaws without canines; molars on the sides arranged in several series. Cheeks scaly. The spines of the dorsal fin, from eleven to thirteen in number, can be received in a groove; anal spines three. Seven species are known, the majority of which are European, as _P. erythrinus_, common in the Mediterranean, and not rare on the south coast of England, where it is generally termed “Becker;” _P. centrodontus_, the common “Sea-bream” of the English coasts, distinguished by a black spot on the origin of the lateral line; in the young, which are called “Chad” by Cornish and Devon fishermen, this spot is absent; _P. owenii_, the “Axillary or Spanish Sea-Bream,” likewise from the British coasts. _Pagellus lithognathus_, from the coasts of the Cape of Good Hope, attains to a length of four feet, and is one of the fishes which are dried for export and sale to whalers. CHRYSOPHRYS.--Body oblong, compressed, with scales of moderate size. Jaws with four or six canine teeth in front, and with three or more series of rounded molars on each side. Cheeks scaly. The spines of the dorsal fin, eleven or twelve in number, can be received in a groove; anal spines three.