i94i CATALOGUE OF FISHES OF TORTUGAS I2 ? 



bottom in a bare sandy area east of the first shallow bank south of Loggerhead 

 Key a dozen or two medium-sized ones could always be found. Sometimes a few 

 young school about a ballast heap marking the site of a wreck. 



This species has notable power of color change. In a common phase the head 

 and body are pearl gray, delicately countershaded by dark spots on the center of 

 the exposed part of each scale on back and sides, and the highly contrasting black 

 on dorsal and caudal fins begins abruptly. Black and gray alike are dimmed if 

 the fish sinks to the bottom and rests in the shadow of even the most sparsely 

 branched gorgonian. 



A specimen confined in an aquarium appeared usually as last described, but 

 sometimes displayed a mottled phase like that of other species of grunt similarly 

 placed. Whenever any attempt was made to capture it, or when it was otherwise 

 disturbed, it responded by showing on a greenish-gray background a pattern of 

 seven major stripes. 



Brazil to Florida. W. H. L. 



Haemulon macrostomum Giinther. Spanish grunt; gray grunt 



(Plate 12, figure 2) 



Haemulon macrostomum Giinther, Cat. fish. Brit. Mus., vol. 1, 1859, p. 308 — Jamaica. 

 Haemulon chrysopterum Mowbray (not of Cuvier and Valenciennes), Bull. New York 



Zool. Soc, vol. 18, 1915, p. 1298, with fig. — Key West, Florida. 

 Haemulon mowbrayi Jordan and Evermann, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 4, vol. 16, 1927, 



p. 505 — Key West, Florida. 



One of the least common of the Haemulidae, living in water from 6 to 18 feet 

 deep. Still, it is always to be found about some of the reef patches. 



Like the other grunts, it is a nocturnal feeder. Four examples examined early 

 in the morning contained recognizable food, in which none observed had shown 

 any interest during the day. The recognizable food of the 4 examined, ranging 

 in length from 275 to 325 mm., consisted of small crabs, fish, gastropods, sea 

 urchins, starfish, amphipods, and an isopod. 



In coloration this grunt is one of the most strongly marked species. It retains 

 its juvenile pattern of stripes throughout life. Ground color muddy gray; stripes 

 brownish black, with a conspicuous wash of yellow between the upper one and 

 base of dorsal fin; a conspicuous spot of light yellow on dorsal surface of caudal 

 peduncle; entire pectoral except scaly base, margin of dorsal (particularly the 

 soft part), inner margin of anal, and a broad terminal band on caudal golden. In 

 the field even the adult fish differ greatly in the amount of yellow shown. An 

 aquarium specimen, 100 mm. long, was banded. One dark bar appeared before 

 the dorsal fin, a second beneath the middle of its spinous part, becoming united 

 with the first ventrally, and a third beneath the spinous and soft parts of the 

 dorsal. 



Atlantic coast of tropical America to Florida. W. H. L. 



Haemulon bonariense Cuvier and Valenciennes. Black grunt 



Of the grunts, Haemulon melanurum alone is about as rare as this species. 

 Usually it is seen singly. As many as 3 or 4 were seen only once with hundreds 

 of common and yellow grunts. 



