798 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



FISH FANCIERS. 

 Pelican tame by his own initiati\' 



A USH MUST TRAVEL DUWN TO ENTER A "POT.' 



NOTES OX THE FISHERIES OF KEY 

 WEST. 



B}i Chapman Grant. 



THE Aquarium lias recently placed on exhi- 

 bition a large number of tropical fishes ob- 

 tained by the writer at Key West, Florida. 

 This is a new collecting; ground for the Aquar- 

 ium ;ind the following notes may be of interest 

 to readers of the Billetin. 



The fish market of Key West is a revelation 

 to the northerner, for instead of buying fish 

 from a counter or off a block of ice one goes 

 to the market dock and selects tlie fish alive 

 from a fish car, a large slat box floating in the 

 water, or from the well of a smack. Every fish- 

 ing boat is fitted with a large central well ex- 

 tending to the bottom of the boat and riddled 

 with auger holes to permit a free circulation of 

 the water. The fish are placed in the well as 

 soon as they are caught so that they reach the 

 market alive and in good condition. This is a 

 necessary proceeding in the tropics where fish 

 decompose so rajjidly after death, 



A majority of the fishermen prefer to pay 

 market fees to the owner or lessee of the dock 

 and retail their own fish, others sell all their 

 catch to the market owner. The housewife or 

 maid, or more fre<iuently the head of the house 

 comes to the dock and after a general conversa- 

 tion and exchange of gossip says to the negro 

 fisherman, "Any grunts" ! — almost a staple — or 

 he may ask for grouper or yellowtail. The fish- 

 erman t<ikes his dipnet and scoo))s the desired 

 fish from the well, and if an agreement is ar- 

 rived at in regard to the jjrice the fish are hit 

 on the head with a club, cleaned, scaled and tied 

 together on a piece of jjalm fiber and handed to 

 the purchaser. The variety to choose from is 

 large and is still more diversified by crawfish and 

 stonecrabs or jewfish steak. These fish are bv 

 no means as cheap as one would expect. A 

 crawfish brings about ten or fifteen cents and 

 tiic crabs thirty-five cents a dozen with fish cor- 

 respondingly high. 



Tile killing of fish at the market is an inter- 

 esting proceeding. Fish larger than grunts, 

 porkfish or yellowtails are not killed with the 

 "bruiser," but after being scooped to the dock 

 are pierced to the brain by one blow from a 

 |)oker-sliaped iron bar, and as one watches a 

 strongly marked grouper or brilliant hogfish or 

 .1 dark turbot, it fades to an ashy gray in about 

 seven seconds .after being killed. The startled 

 observer glances again at a live fish to see if it 

 really is the beautiful creature he took it to be. 

 The color of the dead fish returns again almost 



