354 Big Game Fishes 
or seven pronounced stripes, one of which passes 
directly through the eye. In Florida I found this 
fish everywhere about the large coral heads, al- 
ways in company with angel-fishes and yellow- 
tails, adding to the manifold attractions of these 
submarine gardens. The most constant compan- 
ion of this gamy creature was the black angel- 
fish, which so far as shape is concerned closely 
resembles it. Very large individuals attain a 
weight of ten pounds or more, averaging much 
smaller about the wharves and docks; yet few 
fishes of their size present so brave a front and 
make so desperate and sustained a fight against 
capture. The struggles of a trout of the same 
weight or even a black-bass fade into insignifi- 
cance when compared to this broad gray or black 
fish of extraordinary countenance and vivid white 
lips. The angel-fishes proper belong to the 
family Chzetodontidz, which includes nine or ten 
genera or about two hundred species, mainly 
found in tropical seas the world over, in some 
localities being known as coral-fishes, and every- 
where among the most gorgeous and _ beautiful 
of the denizens of the ocean, their vivid coloring 
rendered more striking by the contrast of the 
sombre olive-hued coral. Flashing like gems in 
