MASTERS OF THE WATER-BONY FISHES 229 



Spawning is in shallow water in spring or early summer. The young school. 

 The dominant species are given below. (For the many less common species, 

 reference will have to be made to the Bibliography.) We will consider the 

 groupers as belonging to three groups below. 



Genus Myctero-perca. The members of this huge and confusing genus have 

 a rather broad, high forehead, a short upper jaw like a bulldog, and a long 

 anal fin of eleven to twelve soft rays. The tail fin is usually square or rounded. 



BLACK GROUPER (rockfish, bonaci arara) : Myctewperca honaci— Color Plate 4 



Size: Up to 4 feet. 



Weight: Common at 20 pounds. Up to 100 pounds. 



Distribution: West Indies to Florida Keys. Straggles to Cape Cod. 



Identification: Variable color. Usually a gray-olive, or blue-black ground color 

 with large, dark quadrate blotches. The vertical fins often have a black border 

 surmounted bv a narrow light line. The pectoral fins are never tipped with 

 yellow. 



Similar Species: The gag, Mycteroperca microlepis, reaches 3 feet and 50 

 pounds and is very common in Florida from Pensacola around the peninsula 

 northward to North Carolina. It is not found in the West Indies. It is a greenish, 

 palely colored fish and has only indistinct blotches. The fins are dark olive to 

 bluish with blue-black borders edged with white, as is common with several 

 groupers. The scales are very small. 



The scamp (salmon rockfish), Mycteroperca falcata, reaches 2 feet and 12 

 pounds or more. There are two distinct forms, a West Indian and a southern 

 Florida one. The coloration of the scamp in the West Indies is brownish to 

 gravish, faintlv covered with small dark spots. The southern Florida scamp 

 is a pale but pretty pink to purple-gray, spotted with smaller spots above and 

 larger, obscure blotches on the sides. The fins of both are tipped with a darker 

 gray, sometimes with whitish borders. 



The broom-tailed grouper, Mycteroperca xenarcha, ranges from Mexico to 

 Peru and reaches 60 pounds or more. It is dark gray to brown or green and 

 blotched, and the tail fin rays are extended beyond the fin webbing so as to 

 give a ragged look to this fin. 



. YELLOW-FIN GROUPER (rED ROCKFISH, BONACI CARDENAl) : MyctCropCrca 



venenosa— Color Plate 4 



Size: Up to 3 feet. 



Weight: Averages 10 to 15 pounds. Up to 35 pounds. 



Distribution: West Indies to Florida. North rarely to Cape Hatteras. 



Identification: The spiny dorsal and the pectoral fins are tipped with yellow. 

 The ground color is light gray to olive or red and is covered with dark, oblong 

 blotches and small dark spots. The vertical fins have a black border. The 

 flesh is reported to be poisonous at times. 



Similar Species: The Gulf grouper (cabilla de astillero, baya), Mycteroperca 

 jordani, is common in bays and protected waters of western Mexico, particularly 

 around Mazatlan and Guaymas. It reaches 3 feet in length. The color is 

 olivaceous, darker above, with obscure, darker, quadrate, diffuse blotches ar- 

 ranged in four vertical series. The side of the head has wavy black streaks. 



