296 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



the lower jaw more prominent or projecting than 

 in any of the other groupers ; the teeth are in 

 broad bands, with short and stout canines. 



Its ground color is olivaceous gray, with darker 

 clouds ; the head and entire body are profusely 

 covered with red or orange spots of varying size, 

 those on the lower part of the body the largest, 

 nearly as large as the pupil of the eye ; parts of 

 the body and fins have irregularly-shaped, whitish 

 spots or blotches ; there are several ill-defined, 

 clouded, blackish, vertical, or oblique blotches 

 across the body, some of them extending upward 

 on to the dorsal fin, with the interspaces lighter; 

 the fins are likewise spotted with red and white. 



The groupers known as " hinds," as the red, 

 rock, brown, speckled, spotted, or John Paw hinds, 

 are so named from being spotted, and resembling 

 somewhat in this way the hind or female red deer. 

 They are all good food-fishes, and are found 

 regularly in the Key West market, though not 

 so plentiful as the snappers, grunts, etc., but 

 bringing a better price. The rock hind, as might 

 be inferred from its name, frequents rocky situa- 

 tions about the channels between the keys, 

 feeding mostly on small fishes and marine in- 

 vertebrates. It grows to a length of eighteen 



