A FISH WOKTH TAKIXG. 457 



tween those weights. I should suppose it belongs to the ge- 

 nus Tunny ^ were it not for its short, square-ended fins, its 

 large scales and chubbed form, being both wide and thick, 

 with a huge head and large mouth, armed with numerous 

 short and sharp teeth, in several rows on each mandible; 

 it is, therefore, unlike any other fish of our bays, being much 

 more powerful than the drum, and several fold larger than 

 the sheepshead or sea bass, these being the fishes which it 

 most nearly resembles in outline. The top of its head is 

 black, and the ends of all the fins but the pectoral are edged 

 with an inch-wide band of jet black ; the rest of the fins being 

 neutral-tinted, the back, a dark brownish gray, fading regu- 

 larly toward a white abdomen. This is eminently a South 

 American fish, which forages north as far as extend the Ba- 

 hama Banks. It feeds on such Crustacea as crabs, mussels, 

 soft-shell clams, shrimp, and does not refuse eels, butter-fish, 

 mullets, and porgees. Besides its large jaws and numerous 

 teeth, its first dorsal is strongly spiked, as is also the top ray 

 of its pectoral fin; and it is further armed with a short and 

 strong spear on the outer gill-cover each side of the head, as 

 represented by the white triangular figure on the gill ; and 

 the grouper has the power to turn its point at right-angle 

 with the body, or to lay it down flat in its sheath on its huge 

 and powerful gill-cover." The grouper is an excellent dinner 

 fish, and when boiled and served with drawn butter and 

 shrimp or lobster sauce, is said to fully equal the turbot. 



It is taken in nets and on the troll. It plays very vigor- 

 ously, alternately leaping and plunging, contending for some 

 half an hour on the strongest-armed metal squids, and which 

 he often crushes and escapes, though the hand-line to the 

 troll be manned by an experienced and expert fisherman. 



It frequently gives trailers in the Gulf of Mexico and in 

 the bays around Florida a test of its qualities for game. The 

 following sketch is intended to represent a student belonging 

 to the Hand-line Committee, who concluded not to be trou- 

 bled with holding his line, so fastened it to his leg ; and when 



