288 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



maxillary not extending beyond front of orbit; a broad patch of teeth on tongue, in addition 

 to the usual teeth in jaws; snout contained 2.8 times in head; eye less than .2 length of head; 

 gill-rakers .5 diameter of eye, 8 on lower arm of first arch; scales in lateral series 60, in trans- 

 verse series 8 + 15, 6 rows on cheek, 7 on opercle; dorsal rays x,14, the fourth and fifth spines 

 longest; anal rays in, 9, the middle rays very long; caudal slightly forked; pectorals pointe 1, 

 .8 length of head, extending to or beyond front of anal fin; ventrals .5 to .6 length of head. 

 Color: rich rose red, paler below; a black spot, disappearing with age, above lateral line under 

 anterior rays of soft dorsal; fins mostly brick red. (Named for the late Eugene G. Blackford, 

 of New York City.) 





Fig. 127. Red Snapper. Lutianus hlackfordi.^ 



This important food fish of the Gulf of Mexico and the West Indies has 

 occasionally been found as far north as Woods Hole, in southern Massachusetts. 

 The fish caught for market are from 1 to 3 feet long, and several million pounds 

 are taken annually with lines in the Gulf of Mexico and sent all over the United 

 States. The Fish-Hawk took several specimens of this species while line-fishing 

 on the black-fish grounds off Beaufort in September, 1902, and at least 5 young 

 examples were seined on the beach at Cape Lookout and in Beaufort Harbor in 

 the summers of 1902 and 1903. The species, however, will probably not be 

 found in sufficient numbers on the grounds lying off North Carolina to make it a 

 product of any economic value, although in the extensive seine fisheries formerly 

 conducted in the ocean at Cape Lookout examples were sometimes caught. The 

 State Museum at Raleigh contains a specimen from Cape Lookout presented by 

 Mr. George N. Ives. The species becomes more common toward the southern 

 part of the coast, and is said to be taken in considerable numbers on the "snapper 

 banks" lying off Cape Fear, 



254. LUTIANUS ANALIS (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 

 Miitton-fish. 



Mesoprion analis Cuvier & Valenciennes, Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, ii, 452, 1828; San Domingo. 

 Neomanis analis, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 1265, pi. cxcviii, fig. 517. 



