SPARUS, GILTHEAD, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of thoracici. See ICHTHOLOGY Index. The sparus auratus, or gilthead, was well known to the Romans, who did not esteem them unless they were fed with Lucrine oysters, as Martial informs us,
Non omnis laudem pretiumque AUBATA meretur,
Sed qui solus erit concha Lucrina cibus.
Lib. xiii. Ep. 92.