Mycteroperea 



lations and curved blotches of bright, clear, light green ; entire body 

 and head covered with round orange-brown spots; angle of mouth 

 orange within; iris orange; breast slightly rosy; dorsal olive-brown 

 with whitish blotches. 



M. apua, the bonaci cardenal, is found from the Florida Keys to 

 Brazil in deeper water than M. venenosa, from which it -differs only in 

 colour and of which it has usually been regarded as a subspecies. But 

 we have never seen any specimens intermediate between the two, and 

 it seems best to regard them as distinct species. 



Colour in life of an example 2 feet long, intense scarlet red above, 

 grayer below; small black spots above, larger red ones below; base 

 of dorsal and caudal deep red, the edge of dorsal, caudal, and anal 

 black; pectoral spotted at base, then blackish, thence broadly yellow. 

 Younger examples scarlet brown above, varying from vermilion to 

 gray. 



M. bonaci, the black grouper, bonaci arara or aguaji, is found from 

 the Florida Keys through the West Indies to Brazil. It is abundant 

 about Key West, where it is the only fish known as black grouper. It 

 reaches a length of 2 or 3 feet and a weight of 50 pounds. Large in- 

 dividuals are taken with hook and line and are said to be very game. 

 Small ones are seined alongshore. 



M: xanthosticla is known only from the Snapper Banks off the 

 west coast of Florida and is rare. It reaches a large size, examples 4 

 feet in length having been taken. 



M. jordani, the cabrilla de astillero or baya, is an important food- 

 fish at Mazatlan and Guaymas. It reaches a length of 2 to 3 feet and 

 is common in bays and protected waters. 



Colour, olive-gray, blackish above, with obscure clouds of darker 

 olive in the form of diffuse dark blotches, these oblong quadrate and 

 arranged in 4 series; lower parts pale olive; sides of head with wavy 

 black streaks. 



M. microlepis, the gag, occurs from Beaufort, North Carolina, 

 and around the coast of Florida to Pensacola. It is not yet known 

 from the West Indies. At Key West it is a common fish at all times, 

 reaches a weight of 10 pounds, and is highly esteemed. 



Colour, variable, those from shallow water being lighter and more 

 variegated; those from deeper water plain brownish gray, paler below, 

 with no distinct spots or rivulations, but with faint traces of darker 

 spotting, which disappear in alcohol; dorsal dark olive, the tip of soft 

 part blue-black, the edge narrowly white; caudal black with bright 



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