392 



ORDERS OF FISHES— SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



attains sometimes a length of 3 feet, and a max- 

 imum weight of 40 pounds. In the Gulf of 

 Mexico, says Mr. Silas Stearns, they very seldom 

 exceed 30 pounds weight, and the average is 8 or 

 9 pounds. It happens, however, that one can 

 spend months on the coast of Florida, and around 

 Key West, without even once seeing a Red Snap- 

 per reaching 25 pounds in weight. 



This fish prefers to live on a rocky bottom, in 

 holes and gullies where all kinds of marine 

 animals and fish are abundant. These gullies 

 occur at a depth of from twelve to forty-five 

 fathoms, and are most numerous in the north- 

 ern border of the great level plain of sand which 



487 pounds of Red Snappers, worth to them 

 $171,234. 



ODD FISHES OF THE SPINY-FINNED 

 ORDER. 



The "Dolphin" 1 of this Order is a fish, not 

 a cetacean of the Class of Mammals; and its 

 unfortunate popular name and sea-going habits 

 cause between it and the true dolphins much 

 confusion. 



This is the mid-ocean fish with a long, paddle- 

 like body, a dorsal fin which reaches in one un- 

 broken sweep from head to tail, and which pos- 



THE SWORDFISH. 



stretches out as the Gulf bottom from Cedar 

 Keys toward the delta of the Mississippi. 



Within easy reach of Jacksonville, Florida, 

 are fishing-banks so well populated by the Red 

 Snapper, and other fishes, also, that excursions 

 are made to them with great success. Dr. C. J. 

 Kenworthy described for Dr. Goode ("Game 

 Fishes of North America ") a day's sport twelve 

 miles off shore from Mayport, which for eighteen 

 fishermen yielded 208 Red Snappers averaging 

 25 pounds each. The bait used was bluefish, 

 young shark or skip-jack. The only serious 

 drawback to this fish is the fact that "it should 

 always be boiled, or cooked in a chowder." 



In 1897, the fishermen of Florida caught 5,314,- 



sesses when alive the wonderful iridescent colors 

 which have tested the descriptive powers of so 

 many voyagers. 



This is the terror and destroyer of the flying 

 fish. The "Dolphin" pursues it with tremen- 

 dous speed and perseverance, often taking long 

 leaps out of the water, until the victim is exhaust- 

 ed, overtaken and devoured. 



The colors of the "Dolphin" are a mixture 

 of all the colors of the solar spectrum, revealed 

 with the metallic, lustre and iridescence of the 

 opal and the reticulated python. The fully 

 grown fish is from 5 to 6 feet in length, and in 

 contrast with the ordinary sailing-vessel diet 

 1 Cor-y-phae'na hip-pu'rus. 



