302 Big Game Fishes 
the jewfish rolled from side to side, occasionally 
pounding the water with its powerful tail, it was 
a remarkable spectacle. Its length, as near as I 
could judge, was over six feet ; its color a brownish 
olive with lighter spots, lighter upon the belly. 
The head seemed enormous, the eyes small and 
perched high up, and far down near the nostrils; 
the lower jaw projected slightly; the gill-covers 
were large. Perhaps the most noticeable feature 
was the rounded tail, which is the antipodes of 
that of the huge S¥ereolepzs of the Pacific coast, 
with which it is often confused by anglers who 
apply the name jewfish to both. The bulk of the 
fish was overpowering, and what it weighed was 
a matter of conjecture. Those who saw it, esti- 
mated its weight at between five and six hundred 
pounds, Paublo being ready to make affidavit that 
it was an eight-hundred-pounder; but while there 
seemed to be no limit to its vastness, I think it 
would be safe to place it at three hundred pounds. 
Later I saw a jewfish on the beach at Conchtown, 
Key West, which, it was said, weighed six hundred 
and forty-two pounds. The fish attains. a weight 
of over one thousand pounds and fully meets the 
estimates placed upon it by boatmen, whose im- 
aginations are limited by no slavish bonds. 
