454 Fisoinc in AMERICAN WATERS. 
sport to rod and reel, or with the troll, biting readily ai & 
silver or pearl squid, or to a hook baited with a piece om 
mullet or porgee. 
The color of this fish is vermilion on the back and a light- 
er tint of red as it approaches the abdomen, which is a light 
pink. The eyes are red, with black pupil. Its average 
weight is about twelve pounds, though it attains to very 
great weight—some say one hundred pounds. Its meat is 
creamy white, flaky, and juicy; and by many is supposed to 
be the best dinner fish of the coast. 
The red snapper is found in greatest numbers in the bays 
of the Bahama Banks and the Gulf of Mexico and the Flori- 
das; but it is taken throughout the western archipelago. It 
spawns in the spring season, and, like the striped bass and 
others of that genus, it requires from one to two months to 
lay its eggs. 
This fish belongs to the same genus as the black snapper, 
which my learned friend C—— thinks may belong to the 
Wrasse family, though I believe it is one of the bass or 
mackerel tribes. It is quite certain that it is an excellent 
commercial and game fish, affording capital sport, and I 
leave the rest to the “ scientists.” 
Lonc-BaRRED MULLET. 
The long-barred mullet is an excellent trolling bait for 
these waters, and the manner of mounting it upon hooks tied 
on wire-gimp snells, with a loop to attach to a swivel and 
gimp leader, forms the best spinning tackle wherewith to 
troll with rod and reel, or to angle in a swift current on the 
bay-rivers of Florida; but the hooks should be of heavier 
* wire than those represented. 
