SNAPPERS AND RED-MOUTHS. 75 



of variable size, having rocky bottoms and teeming with animal and vege- 

 table life. These gullies occur at a depth of from twehe to forty-five 

 fathoms, the water in them being several fathoms deeper than the sur- 

 rounding bottom, and more rocky, and in the deepest parts richer in ani- 

 mal life. Red Snappers are exceedingly abundant in these places, which 

 are the so-called 'snapper banks.' From Temple Bay to Cedar Keys the 

 gullies are numerous in sixteen, eighteen, and twenty fathoms ; from Cedar 

 Keys to Saint Mark's, in fifteen and sixteen fathoms; off Saint Mark's 

 and Dog Island there are a few in five and ten fathoms. PYom Cape San 

 Bias to the mouths of the Mississippi River occur the best fishing grounds 

 in the Gulf, so far as is now known ; gullies ten and fifteen fathoms in 

 depth are especially abundant fifty miles west from the cape. West of the 

 Mississippi, and on the Texas coast, there are a few which are in twelve 

 and fifteen fathoms. These grounds are found by the use of the sounding- 

 lead, which shows every position by the sudden increase in the depth of 

 the water. Red Snappers live in such places all the year, except, per- 

 haps, in some of the five and ten fathom ones, which are nearly deserted 

 in winter. Off Pensacola there seems to be quite a movement inshore in 

 fall. In South Florida they are usually associated with the groupers, 

 which occur in the proportion of about three to one, while in West Florida 

 the case is reversed ; not more than one fish in ten of those caught is a 

 grouper. ' ' 



Red Snappers are also known to be abundant on the Savannah Bank 

 and on the Saint John's Bank, off Eastern Georgia and Florida. 



The Red Snappers are strictly carnivorous, feeding upon small fish, 

 crabs, and prawns. The temperature of the water in which they live 

 probably rarely falls below 50°. They have no enemies except sharks and 

 two or three enormous spiny-rayed fishes such as the jew-fish or warsaw 

 [Guasa). The only reliable observations upon their breeding habits have 

 been made by Mr. Stearns, who states that they spawn in May and June 

 in the bays and at sea. In June, July, and August they are found in some 

 of the bays of the Northern Gulf, about wrecks and rock-piles, in consid- 

 erable numbers, and none are taken but the larger adults and the young from 

 one to eight inches long. The spawning season probably extends over a 

 period of several months, Mr. Stearns having found well-developed ovaries 

 in them from April to July. Nothing is known of their rate of growth. 

 They attain to the size of forty pounds. In East Florida, howe\-er, the aver- 



