Red Grouper ; Cherna Americana 



The speckled hind or john-paw (E. driimmond-bayi) is most 

 abundant on the Snapper Banks in the Gulf of Mexico, but it has been 





■"^c^,.. , j 



recorded from the Bermudas and Charleston. It attains a weight of 30 

 pounds, and is an important food-fish in the Pensacola market. It is 

 perhaps the most beautiful in colour of all the groupers. 



Colour, dark umber-brown, densely covered with small pearly- 

 white spots, those below smaller and nearly round, all in irregular 

 series; fins not dark-edged, all covered with similar spots, those of 

 the paired fins chiefly on the inner surface; lower side of head flushed 

 with red and unspotted; caudal fin more densely spotted than the 

 body, the terminal spots lavender; pectoral with a subterminal orange 

 band. 



Red Grouper; Cherna Americana 



Epinephelus morio (Cuvier & Valenciennes) 



The red grouper is the most abundant and best-known species of 

 the genus. It is found on our South Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 

 Virginia to Texas and southward to Brazil. It is an easily recogniza- 

 ble species, separated from all others by the elevation of the second 

 dorsal spine. Besides the vernacular names given above, it is known 

 also as cherna, mero, cherna de vivera, negre, and jaboncillo. 



The red grouper is a very handsome fish, bearing some resem- 



385 



