262 AMERICAN FISHES. 



use, especially for the olivaceous species. This is a Portuguese word, and 

 belonged originally to the species of Epinephelus and related genera. 

 Different species have also special names, mostly given by the Portuguese 

 fishermen. These are noticed below. 



The average size of the species of the group is about fifteen inches in 

 length, and a weight of two or three pounds. Some of them reach a 

 length of nearly three feet, and a weight of twelve pounds. Nothing is 

 known of their rate of growth. 



The greatest abundance both of individuals and of species in this group 

 is to be found from Santa Barbara to San Francisco,, the maximum about 

 Monterey. They occur from Cerros Island, where they are rather scarce, 

 at least as far as Kodiak, and other species similar are found on the coasts 

 of Japan and Chili. The individuals are extremely local. Most of the 

 species are found about rocky reefs, often in considerable depths, and they 

 probably stray but little from their abodes. In general, the red species 

 inhabit greater depths than the brown or green ones, and the latter swim 

 about more freely. Their abundance on certain reefs about Monterey and 

 the Farallones is doubtless being diminished ; elsewhere there has been 

 little danger of over-fishing. All are predatory and voracious, feeding 

 mainly upon other fishes, and sometimes on crustaceans. 



All of the species are ovo-viviparous. The eggs are small and exceed- 

 ingly numerous, and are hatched within the body. The eggs themselves 

 are bright yellow. In the spring, at a season varying with the latitude, 

 and perhaps with different species, these yellow eggs turn to a grayish 

 color. If then examined, the two eyes of the young fish can be distinctly 

 seen. Later a slender body appears, with traces of vertical fins, the length 

 then being about one-fourth to one-third of an inch. They are probably 

 extruded at about the length of one-third of an inch, and in a very slender 

 and pellucid condition, as I have never seen them in any more advanced 

 stage of development. Nothing is known of the modes of copulation, nor 

 of the circumstances under which the young are excluded, but the time of 

 breeding is probably for the most part in May. Young fishes of one and 

 a half to two inches are common in August, and in the fall they are large 

 enough (S. paiicispinis, flavidiis) to be taken with hook and line from the 

 wharves. Individuals of less than six or eight inches are rare in the spring, 

 and the fish of that length are probably a year old. 



The enemies of these fishes are of course their predatory neighbors, and 



