SNAPPERS AND RED-MOUTHS. 77 



unmistakable evidence of rocks, and over-board went the lines. They 

 scarcely touched bottom before the cry ' Snapper!' ' Snapper !' was heard, 

 and a crimson beauty graced our deck. 



"All were soon engaged, foreward, aft, starboard, and port. To feel the 

 bite of a twenty-five pound Snapper at a depth of twelve fathoms causes a 

 sensation never to be forgotten. As the line is pulled in and the fish is 

 first seen at a depth of several fathoms, he looks like silver and not larger 

 than one's hand. As he comes nearer his tints deepen, as he struggles at 

 the surface to escape, all his rich, brilliant colors are displayed, and when 

 he reaches the deck every one exclaims, 'What a beauty!' For a few 

 minutes the shouts resound from all sides, but a change soon occurs. 

 Each man labors as if the number to be captured depended upon his in- 

 dividual exertions, and no breath or time could be spared to cry ' Snap- 

 per !' or indulge in fisherman's chaff. In less than two hours the whistle 

 sounds ' Up lines ' for we must cross the bar at a particular stage of the 

 tide. The fish are biting rapidly, but our tired arms and blistered fingers 

 induce us all quietly to obey the warning. 



"On the home-trip our captures are counted; — not sea bass, porgies, and 

 small fry, but fish worth counting, — and it is found that the party has cap- 

 tured one grouper weighing thirty-five pounds, two of eighteen pounds, 

 and two hundred and eight snappers averaging twenty-five pounds each, — 

 the entire catch weighing two and one half tons." 



One April day, some years ago, the writer and a party of friends were 

 passengers on the little steamer which plied between Jacksonville and the 

 mouth of the St. Johns. After leaving Mayport on the return trip, we 

 were hailed by a party of men from a large sail-boat laying-to in the mid- 

 dle of the river. We threw "them a line, and they gave us a deck-load of 

 stout fishes, — shapely, bright-eyed, and crimson. We learned that the 

 boat had left Mayport on the previous afternoon, carrying six men, who 

 had, in three hours, taken ninety Red Snappers, weighing in the aggregate 

 over a ton, besides quantities of sea bass. Their brilliant hues were a 

 great surprise to those of our party who were acquainted only with the 

 neutral colors of the common northern market fishes, or perhaps had 

 even seen the dull red color of the Snappers hanging in the markets. The 

 ladies were eager to possess some of the " lovely scales," but soon learned 

 one of the first lessons of ichthyology, that scales are always white, what- 

 ever may be the color of the fish which wear them. 



The writer also learned a lesson in ichthyology, on the same occasion, 

 The opportunity to examine so many specimens of this fish, gave him the 

 clew to the fact that it was an undescribed species and led to its descrip- 

 tions by Goode and Bean under the name Lutjanus Blackfordii. 



