i 5 o AMERICAN FISHES. 



water ally, and it may appropriately be considered the pike-perch of the 

 sea coast. It occurs in the sea and also in brackish estuaries. The 

 Robalo attains the length of about three feet, and is exceedingly strong, 

 active and voracious, feeding upon all kinds of small fishes.- It is un- 

 doubtedly a good fish for the sportsman, though the "Ravallia" or 

 " Snook " usually referred to in the chronicles of angling is Elacate. 



President Jordan gives it an unqualified endorsement: "A vigorous 

 gamy fish it must certainly be, from its build and food, though I never 

 took it on the hook. I have eaten them baked, and I know them to be 

 good, and the Creole Spanish hold them in high esteem. In structure 

 they much resemble the striped bass, and Robalo is the Spanish name for 

 the European bass. Probably the objection is simple prejudice. I once 

 heard a darky, who had never before seen a Robalo, say of a twenty- 

 pounder, that ' he would rather eat the devil than such a looking fish.' It 

 is much valued on the Mexican coast and is occasionally taken about Gal- 

 veston in summer. It becomes much more abundant southward along the 

 Texas coast, and is one of the staple food-fishes about Brazos Santiago." 



There is reason for caution in speaking about this fish by its common 

 names, since we are assured by Dr. Henshall that the name "Ravallia" 

 is very commonly applied to the Cobia, and that the name "Snooks" is- 

 the one in common use for Centropomus on the west coast of Florida. This 

 is of course a corruption of Snoek, the Dutch name for the Pike (Esox 

 lucius), and was used in Dampier's list of fishes printed in the seventeenth 

 century. 



