410 NATURAL HISTOKY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



for use iu chowders ; in this respect i rival of the haddock, its flesh being very sweet, flaky, and 

 linn. By reason of the hardness of its flesh it is especially adapted to packing and shipment in 

 ice, and in summer is probably one of the most desirable fishes to be obtained in the city markets. 

 The principal commercial fisheries are located in the Vineyard and Fisher's Island Sound and the 

 vicinity, carried on by Noank and New London smacks oft' the mouth of the Delaware Bay, and 

 ofl' Charleston, South Carolina. As has already been stated, its distribution is very wide all along 

 the coast, and it is probable that its importance as a food-fish will increase in years to come. 



There is a. small species (Serranm trifurcits) resembling the Sea Bass which has been found 

 only in the vicinity of Charleston, fcouth Carolina, and Pensacola, Florida, where it is called the 

 "Eock Black-fish"; it occasionally finds its way to the Charleston markets. 



THE SQUIRREL-FISH SERRANUS FASCICULARIS. 



The Squirrel-fish is usually to be seen in the markets of Charleston, north of which it has 

 never been discovered. The following paragraph from Holbrook's "Ichthyology of South Caro- 

 lina" contains all that has been observed regarding its habits: 



" Little can be said of the habits of this fish. It however appears in our waters in May and 

 June and remains until November. It is occasionally taken with the hook on the black-fish 

 grounds, but is never abundant. Southward it ranges at least to Brazil." 



137. THE GROUPERS. 

 THE RED GROUPER EPINEPHELTJS MORIO. 



Next in importance to the Sea Bass are the various species of Grouper, members of the genus 

 Epinephelm. The " Red Grouper," as it is called iu Florida, and in New York markets Epinephe- 

 lun morio, is a large species, sometimes attaining the weight of forty or fifty pounds. There is no 

 certain record of its having been captured north of Florida, where it is called the "Brown Snap- 

 per," or "Red-bellied Snapper." DeKay, writing iu 1842, stated that it was not unusual in the 

 New York market in June and July, where it was called by the fishermen 'Groper,' or 'Red Groper'; 

 that it is a Southern species and is brought from the reefs of Florida, but that he had been 

 informed by Indian fishermen that it is occasionally, but very rarely, taken off the coast of New 

 York; he added that Dr. Holbrook informed him that it was brought into the Charleston markets 

 from Florida in the months of January, February, and March. 



Ilolbrook wrote: "The Grouper is so seldom seen on our coast that nothing can at this time 

 be said of its habits; but in confinement, as it is brought to us from Key West, it appears very 

 voracious and bold, taking food even from the hand wheu offered, and always injuring such other 

 species of fish' as 'may be its fellow-captives." 



It is very abundant in the Gulf of Mexico and about the Florida Keys, and is said also to be 

 abundant along the whole coast of East Florida, and is often taken on the Saint John's bar. Mr. 

 8. C. Clarke writes that it occurs in the vicinity of New Smyrna, Florida, where it spawns in bays 

 and inlets in the months of May and June, as does also the Black Grouper. The only reliable 

 study of its habits which has been made we owe to Mr. Silas Stearns, whose biographical sketch of 

 this species may here be quoted in full : 



"The Red Grouper is extremely abundant in the Gulf of Mexico iu company with the red 

 snapper. It is most abundant on the South Florida coast, and is found throughout the year on the 

 'grounds' at sea and in summer iu some of the bays. It probably spawns in both places, and in 

 June and July. The young arc often caught in Pensacola Bay. In June, 1880, 1 obtained a young 



