ON THE EAST COAST OF FLORIDA. 87 



Illustration. Pa^e. 



81. "MANGROVE SNAPPER." 



In nearly all respects same as Gray Snapper, but there are 

 slight differences. Caught same as Gray. 



During March, 1897, while at Lake Worth, Capt. Gardner and I 

 tested the Mangrove Snapper fishing off the end of the pier quite 

 thoroughly. The water there is very clear, so that you can see the 

 bottom twenty feet down ; consequently, all the fishes are exceptionally 

 wary and shy, and, in the case of the Snapper, I would say cunning. 



We cut Mullets into pieces from an inch to two inches long, 

 throwing it down to the Snappers, of whom there were probably a 

 dozen in sight, some of them " whoppers " of ten or twelve pounds. 

 They at first sailed around the bait, apparently studying the situa- 

 tion, and, finally, some would take it. We kept this up for fifteen or 

 twenty minutes, by which time fifty or more had collected, eating the 

 bait well. Then we put the same bait on as small a line as we dared 

 to, No. 9, 4 c /o hook, and dropped that down while they were busy 

 eating our chum, and " nary one " touched it. 



We tried that several times, always with the same result during 

 the day. Just before dark we could sometimes get one or two, but 

 never a large one, about five pounds being the largest we ever 

 caught there. 



While at Indian Key, in 1892, I asked the headkeeper of Alli- 

 gator Light if there were any Mangrove Snappers around the light. 

 He replied yes, but they were hard to catch, that they gathered under 

 the lighthouse to eat the table refuse thrown down, but if you 

 dropped a baited hook down, they would look up at you, wink their 

 eyes at you and sail away. I presume this was, in the main, true ; 

 but in 1900 Professor Walker and I did well there, some ten or fifteen 

 feet distant from the column of the light. It was quite rough that 

 day, which may have been in our favor. 



