5° 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



A very large Jew-fish will follow and finally swallow a hooked firh, 

 usually a red snapper, with hooks, lead, line and all. If the line does not 

 then break the fish may be hauled in with gaffs. The Jew-fish attains an 

 enormous size, and specimens weighing from eighty to one hundred 

 pounds have been caught. The smaller fish are quite choice, but large 

 ones are too coarse and tough to be salable. 



There is another fish which is also called "Jew-fish," or "Warsaw," 

 and " Black Grouper," of which only enormously large specimens have 

 been obtained, and which is entered upon our catalogues under the name 

 Promic7-ops guasa. It is a fair question whether this great fish be not the 

 adult of the common Black Grouper or some closely allied species, the ap- 

 pearance of which has become somewhat changed with age. A large 

 specimen, weighing about three hundred pounds, was taken near the St. 

 John's bar in March or April, 1S74, by James Arnold. It was shipped by 

 Mr. Hudson, a fish dealer in Savannah, to Mr. Blackford, who presented 

 it to the Smithsonian Institution. A fine cast of this specimen graces the 

 Fisheries Hall of the National Museum. Professor Poey, by whom the 

 species was named, states that in Cuba it attains to the weight of 

 six hundred pounds. An old Connecticut fisherman, who was for many 

 years engaged in the Savannah market fishery, states that the Havana 

 smacks often catch Jew-fish. They are so voracious that when put into the 

 well with the Groupers they would do much damage. The fishermen have 

 found it necessary therefore to sew their jaws together before placing 

 them with other fish. 



The Spotted Hind of the Gulf of Mexico, Epinephelus DnunmonJ-IIaxi, 

 has been found only in the Gulf of Mexico and at the Bermudas. It 

 Avas observed at the Bermudas in 185 1 by Col. H. M. Drummond-Hay, 

 of the British army. It is there called "John Paw." Specimens were 

 sent to the National Museum in 1S76 and 1S77, by Mr. Blackford 

 and Mr. Stearns. It is one of the many important species which have 

 been brought to notice by the labors of the United States Fish Commission. 

 Although it is an excellent food-fish, it is, even now, not well appreciated. 



Mr. Stearns records the following facts concerning its habits: "The 

 Spotted Hind is common in company with the Grouper and Jew-fish, and 

 is most abundant in South Florida about the reefs. Off Pensacola it lives 

 in the deep fishing grounds, in seventeen, nineteen and twenty-two 

 fathoms. It swims close to the bottom, and is of sluggish movements. I 



