Promicrops 



weight of about 500 pounds, and rivaling in size the largest known 

 examples of the spotted jewfish and the California jewfish. No small 



examples have ever been seen, only one weighing less than 100 pounds 

 having been recorded. 



Colour, plain chocolate-brown, varying to blackish gray, without 

 markings, or with faint blotches, the lower parts scarcely paler, the 

 distal parts of the vertical fins darker; a dark streak along the edge of 

 the maxillary. 



GENUS PROMICROPS GILL 



In this genus the cranium is extremely broad and depressed between 

 the eyes, the anterior profile of the head being more or less concave. 



Only one species certainly known, the spotted jewfish, Promicrops 

 itaiara, a tropical fish of very large size, rivaling the black grouper and 

 the California jewfish in weight. It reaches 2 to 6 feet in length and 

 occurs on both coasts of tropical America north of Florida and the Gulf 

 of California. It is not uncommon in the West Indies, especially 

 about rocks. Colour of adult, nearly uniform dull olive-brown, the 

 spots or bands faint or obsolete. 



3*7 



