302 Big Game Fishes 



the jewfish rolled from side to side, occasionally 

 pounding the water with its powerful tail, it was 

 a remarkable spectacle. Its length, as near as I 

 could judge, was over six feet ; its color a brownish 

 olive with lighter spots, lighter upon the belly. 

 The head seemed enormous, the eyes small and 

 perched high up, and far down near the nostrils ; 

 the lower jaw projected slightly; the gill-covers 

 were large. Perhaps the most noticeable feature 

 was the rounded tail, which is the antipodes of 

 that of the huge Stereolepis of the Pacific coast, 

 with which it is often confused by anglers who 

 apply the name jewfish to both. The bulk of the 

 fish was overpowering, and what it weighed was 

 a matter of conjecture. Those who saw it, esti- 

 mated its weight at between five and six hundred 

 pounds, Paublo being ready to make affidavit that 

 it was an eight-hundred-pounder ; but while there 

 seemed to be no limit to its vastness, I think it 

 would be safe to place it at three hundred pounds. 

 Later I saw a jewfish on the beach at Conchtown, 

 Key West, which, it was said, weighed six hundred 

 and forty-two pounds. The fish attains a weight 

 of over one thousand pounds and fully meets the 

 estimates placed upon it by boatmen, whose im- 

 aginations are limited by no slavish bonds. 



