816 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



COMMON GRUNT. 



highly colored of the Snappers, reddish brown 

 above and orange on the sides, crossbarred, with 

 greenish white. Walbaum described and named 

 the species from a drawing by Catesby, who ne- 

 glected to include the pectoral fins in his figure, 

 and applied the specific name apodus, meaning, 

 "without limbs"! Twelve specimens of this 

 beautiful and interesting fish were brought from 

 Key West. 



IBesides the above mentioned species there are 

 on exhibition at the Aquarium the Gray Snap- 

 per (yeomaenis griseus), the Red Snapper (N. 

 aya) and the Lane or Red-tail snapper (N. 

 synagris). 



The Sea Basses, Family Serranidae. This 

 family, which includes the \^^l'■te, Striped and 

 Sea basses. Hinds, Coneys, Rockfishes, Wreck- 

 fishes, Jewfishes, Groupers (from "garrupa" the 

 Portuguese name for some of these fishes). Soap- 

 fishes and others, is one of the largest and most 

 important groups. The four 

 hundred or more species of 

 this family range mostly in 

 tropical seas, but locally we 

 have the White Perch, Striped 

 Bass arid Sea Bass, besides 

 the fresh water White Bass, 

 and a number of more or 

 less rare stragglers from 

 warmer waters such as the 

 Wreckfish, the Snowy and 

 Red Groupers, Coachman 

 and Soapfish. For the most 

 part these fishes live near 

 shore in comparatively shal- 

 low waters, in many cases 

 about the coral reefs. Such 

 fishes are inclined to be lazy 

 in habit and spend much of 



the time resting on the bot- 

 tom. For this reason they 

 adapt themselves to life in 

 the Aquarium tank as though 

 it were a natural habitat, 

 and even the largest speci- 

 mens live well though some 

 of them are so large as to 

 a]ipear almost ridiculously 

 disproportionate to their 

 narrow quarters. At pres- 

 ent sixteen species are rep- 

 resented in the collection of 

 tlie Aquarium. 



The Rock Hind (Epine- 

 pliilus adscencionis) is on 

 exhibition for the first time. 

 This is a small species reach- 

 ing a length of only eighteen 

 inches, and is one of the most beautiful members 

 of tlie group. The general color is olivaceous 

 gray with irregular small white blotches, with 

 blackish spots on the back, and with numerous 

 round orange-brown spots over the whole body. 

 As in other members of the family the Rock 

 Hind possesses considerable capacity for color 

 changes. It is a common species from Florida 

 Keys to Brazil and has been recorded also at 

 St. Helena Island and at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Nine specimens were brought to the 

 Aquarium from Key West. 



Spotted .Tewfish (Promicrops guttatus). For 

 some unaccountable reason a number of the 

 larger species of "groupers" occurring in warm 

 waters are popularlj- known as Jewfishes. The 

 American forms are the Black Jewfish {Gar- 

 rupa 7iigrita) of the West Indian region and the 

 California Jewfish (Stereolepis gigas) of the 

 'Ob'jwest Coast and the Spotted Jewfish which oc- 



