Giant Fish of Florida 
Like most ground - hugging species, the jewfish, once 
brought to the top, is inflated and helpless. His one hope is in 
the razor-edges of the coral, and well he knows how to turn 
these, where available, to account. If he is caught, it is 
because he has inadvertently wandered far from his natural 
defences, and cannot risk a sudden haul from above by an 
attempt to regain them. A ponderous perch-like fish, he is 
known in many southern and sub-tropical seas, and is a 
favourite object of sport, like his ally, the grouper, all round 
the Australian coasts. 
It is just possible, of course, to reckon too securely on this 
helplessness of jewfish when hauled to the surface, for an 
occasional captive may put forth exceptional efforts to regain 
its liberty. Thus, I recollect a case in which one of 300 lb. 
was lost by a lady through too great reliance on this usual 
collapse, for the fish was made fast by the line close along- 
side the boat, and was being towed ashore, when it made a 
sudden dash for freedom and went down like a stone. 
Like most of the other great fish of those waters, the jew- 
fish is troubled with suckers, and in the photograph facing this 
page may be seen a sucker of about 1 lb. adhering to the side 
of a 4oo-lb. jewfish. So close do these uninvited guests cling 
by means of their sucking apparatus on the head, that only a 
quick leap (which the jewfish, by the way, cannot manage) and 
a sudden twist in the air dislodges them. I have seen sharks 
leap out of water and throw them off in showers. The only 
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