56 FISHING-GEOUNDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Seriola pnnct(tt}is. Amber-fish. Holacanthus tricolor. Black Aiifiel-fish. 



Hwmnhn j)M»ic<af)(s. White Grunt, Yellow Spartis j)agrus. Porgee, Margate fish, Goat's- 



Gruut, Black Gruut. head Porgee, Sheep's-head Porgee. 



Lutjanvs caxis. Gray Suapper. Scomheromorus regalis. Kingfish or Cere. 



Luljanus BlacJcfordii. Red Snapper. Scomberomorns mnculatns. Spanish Mackerel. 



Lntjanus Stcarnsii. Mangrove. Snapper. Scomheromorus caballa. Kingfish or Cero. 



Mesoprionuninotatus{^). Schoolmaster Snapper. Spliyrana piouda (1). Barracuda. 

 Ocynrus chrysiiriis. Yellow-tail Snapper. Lagodon rhomhoides. Sailor's-Ghoice. 



Trisotropis hriinneus. Black Grouper. Lachnolmmis falcatus. Hogfish. 



Trisotropis falcatiiH. Grouper. Scioenops ocellafus. Channel Bass. 



Trisotropis nndulosits. Rockfish. CentroprisHs atrarhis. Sea Bass. 



Epinephelus morio. Red Grouper. Balistes capriscus. Turbot. 



Epinepheliis striatus. Nassau Grouper. Pomatomus saltatrix. Bluefish. 



Epincpliehis mgriius. Jew-fish. Menticirrus alburmis. Whiting. 



Epinephelus Drvmmond-Hayi. Deer Grouper, Cyphos2(s Boscii. Brim. 



Hind. 



Proceeding northward in the Gulf from the Florida Reefs fishing-grounds, we find innumerable 

 places for sea-fishing, which follow one another so continuously from the Tortugas Keys to the 

 mouth of the Mississippi River, that the entire region can be best described as an extensive 

 fishing-ground in the form of a broad belt following the general contour of the coast. 



The character of the southern portion of these grounds, from about the latitude of Anclote 

 Keys southward, is different from that of the northern portion in some respects. The bottom at 

 the sonth seems to consist of a more recent formation than at the north ; there is less sand and 

 mud, and fish occur near to and among the ledges which stand up from the deposit of sand and 

 shells. 



Along the coast from Anclote Keys to Charlotte Harbor there exist extensive and continuous 

 lines of ledges, upon which, as well as iu the gullies between, fish abound. The same kind of bottom 

 is again found just north of the Florida Reefs, but between the two regions there is an almost 

 barren waste of sand. 



The fishing-grounds on the off-shore limit of this section are, so far as known, in the gullies 

 between the rocks where there are living corals, or else in gullies in sandy and shelly bottoms 

 also containing living corals and a soft rock formation. 



The grounds of the northern portion, embracing the region between Anclote Keys and the 

 mouth of the Mississippi River, are wholly in gullies. The bottom off to a depth of about twenty 

 fathoms generally consists of sand with an admixture of broken shells, but in the gullies, which 

 varj' from one hundred to one thousand yards in width and from one-fourth of a mile to several 

 miles in length, the bottom is covered with living and dead corals or hard rock. Outside of 

 about twenty fathoms, rocky and coral bottom predominates, and the soundings show it to be 

 very uneven. At some places in this northern portion the small gullies or gulches are found 

 quite near to the coast, as, for instance, off Appalachee Bay, Dog Island, and Crooked Island, off the 

 coast between Saint Andrew's and Choctawhatchec Bays, and off Pensacola, where they occur iu 

 from five to ten fathoms of water. 



The deepest waters in which fi^^hing is carried on in the Gulf of Mexico are off Pensacola, in a 

 southeast direction and in a depth of nearly fifty fathoms. 



Just east of the Mississippi River and off Mississippi Sound there are a few small gulches 

 inshore, which were formerly resorted to, but are not fished on now. 



The general character of the bottom in this section is muddy, and it is possible that the 



