CHAPTER II. 



OF THE RED FISH, OE SPOTTED BASSE. 



Corvina Ocellata. DaKAT. 



THIS fish is an inhabitant of our more southern waters, being 

 found in great abundance on the Atlantic coast, in most of the 

 bays that set in south of Cape Hatteras, although he occasion- 

 ally, in limited numbers, roves as far north as New York. 

 He is, however, more of an object of sport in the southern 

 bays, and is taken in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 in Lake Borgne, at Pascagoula, Pass Christian, Bay of Biloxi, 

 Mobile, Pensacola, and Apalachicola bays. At the south he 

 is called the Red Fish (Poisson Rouge), and further north, at 

 Charleston, the Basse, or Spotted Basse. He varies in size 

 from one to four feet. When first taken from the water he is 

 of a beautiful silver color, but after a little exposure becomes 

 dark and clouded along the back, like many others of his 

 species. In death he changes his color to rainbow hues. 

 Beyond the caudal fin and near the tail he has a very singular 

 and peculiar black or brown spot, bordered with white. A 

 single spot looks, at first sight, rather unnatural, and one 

 would be apt to suppose it the work of art or accident. The 

 late Dr. Mitchell says, " it resembles the mark left by a heated 

 iron, which has given rise to the name of branded drum." 

 They are often taken having two, three, or even four of these 

 strange looking spots clustered together in the same situation. 



In the vicinity of Charleston he commences taking the hook 

 in the early part of March, and is caught all through the 

 season, until mid winter, at which time he is taken of larger 

 size than at his early coming. Along the more southern coast 



