550 NEW YORK STATE MUSETM 



The edge of the spinous dorsal membrane is black. The 

 caudal has a narrow black margin. The included portion of the 

 maxilla is brown. The scales of the body below the lateral line 

 have median golden stripes, as in some species of M u g i 1 . 



Color in life, very dark green above, the middle part of each 

 scale brassy black, its edge broadly pearly whitish; below 

 lateral line the duskiness of the middle of the scale passes into 

 brassy, and below into bright coppery, the belly and lower parts 

 of head being more or less distinctly bright coppery red; the 

 lower jaw grayish; no blue stripe below eye except in the very 

 young; top of head blackish olive; dorsal blackish, its margin 

 darker and tinged with maroon red; soft dorsal dusky, anteriorly 

 slightly edged with Vhitish; caudal violaceous or maroon black; 

 anal wine color, edged with whitish; pectorals pale flesh color; 

 ventrals whitish, faintly marked with reddish. Young with a 

 blackish band from snout through eye to nape; a blue streak 

 below eye; spinous dorsal with a maroon colored band along 

 edge. 



The gray snapper inhabits the West Indies, the Caribbean 

 sea and southward to Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, and our Atlan- 

 tic coast northward regularly to New Jersey, and, frequently, 

 to Cape Cod. The fish is valuable as food; it probably reaches 

 a length of nearly 3 feet and the weight of 20 pounds. Only 

 young examples have been identified with certainty from the 

 Cape Cod region. On Sep. 21, 1897, a specimen, 2^ inches long, 

 was taken in Eel pond, at Woods Hole Mass., and on Sep. 26, 

 1897, an individual 2 inches long was caught in Great Harbor, 

 Woods Hole. This is the first record of its occurrence in the 

 locality. On Aug. 29, 1900, five specimens, the largest 1^ inches 

 long, were taken in Katama bay, near Woods Hole, according to 

 Dr Smith. In these " the general color is pale^ with 6 to 8 nar- 

 row, dark, longitudinal stripes; spinous dorsal fin dark, with a 

 sharply defined blackish bar involving the distal part of the fin, 

 the extreme edge being white." 



271 Neomaenis blackfordi (Goode & Bean) 



Red Snapper 



Lutjanm hlackfordii Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. I, 176, 1878 (full 

 description of adult); II, 137, 138, 1879, characters and measurements 

 of 5'ouug; Goode, Game Fishes N. A., 16, 1878, with colored plate. 



