3IO AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



hooks, about eight or ten inches apart, the angler may often 

 hang a pair, when, in the words of Dame Berners, "surely 

 thenne is there noo man merrier than he is in his spyryte." 



THE GROUPER — EPINEPHELUS MORIO (CUV. , GILL). 



I give to this well-known and valuable food-fish of the 

 Florida coast, the name affixed to it by scientists, as I sup- 

 pose, though the synonomy of the genus is much confused, 

 and the name, to be adopted, uncertain. The description 

 given by Jordan and Gilbert, of E. viorio, seems more like 

 the common Grouper than any other which they describe. 

 Holbrook, in his"Fishes of S. Carolina," describes what I 

 take to be the same species, under the name of Scrramis 

 crytJirogaster. The name Grouper is found in Roman's list 

 of the fishes of the East Florida coast. How far north it 

 occurs I do not know, but it is abundant and large in the 

 West Indies, as I am informed. It is a thick-set, robust fish, 

 of the Perch family, with hard spines in the dorsal fin; large 

 head and mouth, with sharp teeth. Color, light olive, mot- 

 tled with darker lines, like tortoise shell. Fins tipped with 

 blue; inside of mouth red. 



The Grouper is found near the bottom, in deep holes and 

 channels, near the roots of mangrove trees, under which it 

 makes its stronghold. It is never found far from this for- 

 tress, to which it retreats when hooked or alarmed. The 

 bait is Mullet, either cut or whole, the latter attracting the 

 larger specimens. In size it is taken from half a pound to 

 fifteen pounds, seldom with the net. It is voracious, but 

 shy and easily alarmed; and after one has escaped from the 

 hook, or after the capture of two or three, the others seem to 

 take fright, and will seldom take a bait in that place for 

 some days. When hooked, it makes straight for its hole, 

 and can only by main force be kept from it; so that only 

 those of moderate size are taken with rod and reel — say up 

 to five or six pounds weight. The larger ones can only be 



