416 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



soft dorsal and continues backward to the caudal, not descending below the lateral 

 line. The second and third bands are traversed vertically by a narrow median 

 stripe of the rosy body color. Membrane of dorsals and caudal with a narrow 

 black edge. Spine and external ray of ventral milk white. Anal rosy, except 

 membrane of first two spines and last three rays, which is milk white. 



The Red Snapper has become one of the most famous fishes of our northern 

 markets, and is always attractive on account of its large size, brilliant color, and the 

 excellence of its flesh. We know that the species is to be found on our east coast 

 from Cape Cod to the Carribbean Sea. It is rare, however, north of Cape Hatteras 

 and the principal fisheries are located off the coasts of Georgia and Florida, and in 

 the Gulf of Mexico. 



When the Red Snapper was named in honor of Mr. Eugene G. Blackford, in 

 recognition of his invaluable contributions to the science of ichthyology, the 

 describers of the species had carefully considered the question of nomenclature 

 and satisfied themselves that none of the names known to them could with certainty 

 be associated with this fish. Various earlier names have been suggested from time 

 to time by several authors as possibly available for the species. In 1883 Dr. D. S. 

 Jordan considered it to be the L. campechianus, described by Poey in 1860. This, 

 however, is a species with much smaller scales if the description be accurate. The 

 type has not been examined by any one in the United States so far as I am 

 informed. A little later Dr. Jordan suggested that the name Lutjanns vivanus of 

 Cuv. & Val. should be accepted for the Red Snapper; but my examination of the 

 types of this species in the Museum of Paris showed it to be a small Lutjanus, and 

 very distinct in every way from L. blackfordi. In recent lists Dr. Jordan has 

 adopted the specific name aya of Bloch, published in 1787 in ihe Auslandiscke Fisc/ie. 

 This name was used for a species of Luljanns more than twenty years ago by Dr. 

 Theodore Gill. 



I will now state what may be learned from the literature concerning the aya. 

 The Bodianus aya of Bloch is distinctly based upon the Acara aya of Maurice, 

 Prince of Nassau, as set forth in his Mss, tome 2, page 351. The plate published by 

 Bloch is copied from a drawing by Prince Maurice, and his description is drawn 

 from the same source. The fish which formed the subject of the description and 

 illustration by the Prince of Nassau was the aya or garan/ta of Brazil, a red species, 

 said to attain to a length of 3 feet. The aya is distinctly described as having 9 spines 

 and 1 8 articulated rays in the dorsal. It is represented as having 40 scales in the 

 lateral line, and the scales are said to be ornamented with silvery, submarginal 

 stripes. Bloch was informed that the fish was known to the French, Germans and 



