THE RED SNAPPER. 



SNAPPERS AND RED-MOUTHS. 



The island's edges are a-wing 



With trees that overbranch 

 The sea, with song-birds welcoming 



The curlews to green change. 

 And doves from half-closed lids espy 

 The red and purple fish go by. 



Mks. Browning, Au Island. 



'npHE Snappers and the Grunts belong to Gill's family, P)-istipomatidcB. 

 Jordan puts them with the SparidcB, or Sea-Breams, while Giinther in- 

 cludes them in his much more comprehensive perch family. They are 

 among the most wholesome and abundant of the food-fishes of tropical 

 waters. There are numerous species in the West Indian fauna, but only a 

 small number are sufficiently abundant on the coast of the United States 

 to merit discussion in this book. 



The Snappers and Grunts are among the most highly colored of the 

 tropical fishes — the tanagers and grosbeaks of the coral reefs. 



The Red Snapper, Lutjanus Blackfordii, although it has been for many 

 years a favorite food-fish of the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Florida, has 

 but recently become known in Northern markets. About 1874 individuals 

 of this species were occasionally seen in New York and Washington, and 

 they began shortly after to come into notice in the cities of the Mississippi 

 Valley. It was not even described and named until 1878, when a study 



