The Gray Snapper 35 



ing or protected shelf about which the fishes de- 

 lighted to lie in water from ten to twenty feet in 

 depth. In general appearance the gray snapper 

 resembles the black bass, but is longer and more 

 slender. Its tints are a delicate gray, or green, in 

 the shallows often adapted to the soft mauve of 

 the bottom, or in deeper waters affecting in a 

 general way the more brilliant hues of its sur- 

 roundings the reddish and yellow gorgonias or 

 browns of the sea-plumes. Its eye is extremely 

 beautiful ; rich in browns with a brilliant flash of 

 blue and at times red ; an eye which follows 

 every movement of the angler and is at once 

 critical and expressive. 



The first vision of these fishes was my undoing. 

 I never rested until I had taken one, a consum- 

 mation which came only after days of patient 

 endeavor. I was drifting along shore, looking 

 downward from the rail of the dinghy, when it 

 floated over the old wreck, where, circling slowly 

 about, were a dozen or more gray snappers. They 

 ranged from one to two and three feet in length, 

 well proportioned, graceful, the type of all that is 

 beautiful in a fish. Their movements were dig- 

 nified and impressive, and there was a suggestive- 

 ness of reserve power, as in the black bass, which 



