ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 83 



y^ pound. I have caught them only in Biscayne Bay, on East Coast, 

 inside near the passes, grass or sand bottom, 4 to 10 feet water, 

 still, bottom fishing, or floating. Light tackle, rod and reel, 6, 9, 

 line, No. 1, 2, hooks. Bait : Cut Mullet, or other fish, Crawfish, 

 Conch. Edible, B, almost A. Fine pan fish. 



"*^ : H .. 



.•-"' ■'# 



Illustration. Page. 



77. "PARANTHIAS FURCIFER." 504 1221 



Rabikubia; "Head 3^ ; depth 3; snout about 4 in 



Rabirubiade lo Alto; head . eye about 4 D IXj 18 to 20; A. 

 Creole Fish. m ^ 9 Qr 1Q . sades 12 _120 to 135-35 ; pores 



77 to 85. Body moderately elongate, strongly compressed ; the 

 profile convex and the snout short, as in Anthias ; maxillary reaching 

 to below middle of eye, 2f in head ; maxillary broadened posteriorly, 

 its surface scaled, as in Anthias, its distal extremity ^ to f in eye ; 

 teeth small, recurved, in a narrow band in each jaw, 2 to 4 straight 

 canines near the front of each jaw ; preorbital very narrow ; pre- 

 opercle finely serrate, with salient angle or enlarged teeth ; gill rakers 

 long, slender, and close-set, 12 -+- 20 in number, the longest ^ eye ; 

 scales small, closely and regularly imbricated, most of them strongly 

 ctenoid ; dorsal fin low, the spines strong, the third longest, 2 l /$ in 

 head ; soft rays of dorsal low, scarcely higher than longest spine ; 

 anal short, its longest (second) soft ray 2 in head, its third spine 

 longest, 2^3 in head ; ventrals narrow, 1^ in head, not reaching 

 vent ; pectorals lanceolate, as long as head ; humeral scale long. 

 Color bright red, or salmon color, with 3 small violet spots, 1 on 

 side of back and 1 or 2 on the tail ; a bar of similar color extending 

 from upper corner of pectoral across the humeral process ; sides with 



